Patent Pooling

October / November 07 Volume 5 Number 5

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One of the many challenges for private-sector technology companies is to access and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge produced throughout the federal laboratory system. With the intention of making their intellectual property more accessible for commercialization, four research facilities within the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration recently signed an unprecedented agreement to pool their patents.

The Innovation Bundling Agreement, developed by Technology Ventures Corporation (publisher of Innovation Magazine), aligns the IP of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Nevada Test Site. Under the initiative, patents originating from these facilities will be sorted into groups by subject matter and similarity of technologies, which can then be marketed in this organized manner to the private sector. Additionally, the bundling will enable collaborators to negotiate with a single entity for patent access, as opposed to dealing with the individual laboratories that own each particular patent.

In his remarks at the signing ceremony in Albuquerque, Clay Sell, deputy energy secretary, said that the agreement to allow IP bundling "reduces the barrier to entry that has made it difficult for the great technologists in the laboratories to hook up with venture capitalist and entrepreneurs on the other side.
Bundling makes it easier and so we are optimistic that we will see greater success in the future."

DOE is stepping up its technology transfer efforts. It recently named Raymond Orbach, the department's under secretary for science, as technology transfer coordinator and principal advisor to the secretary on how to generate more commercial spinoff from government investment in research and technology.
Orbach has asked heads of relevant DOE departments to designate tech transfer liaisons who will serve on the newly created Technology Transfer Policy Board.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which established the technology transfer coordinator, also calls for the establishment of Advanced Energy Technology Transfer Centers that would be located strategically around the country. Authorized at $10 million a year for 2006 to 2010, the centers would act as business incubators.

Technology Ventures Corporation, or TVC, a nonprofit foundation founded in 1993 by the Lockheed Martin Corporation, has a cooperative agreement with the National Nuclear Security Administration to assist with the commercialization of technology.

Deputy Secretary Sell praised TVC's "great track record." He said he wants to take "TVC's successes across the country."

Since its founding, TVC has been instrumental in developing more than $890 million in funding commitments, about 9,600 technology jobs and 93 new companies.