May 17, 2002

Universities Try to Keep Inventions From Going 'Out the Back Door'

By GOLDIE BLUMENSTYK

To keep hold of lucrative licenses, institutions educate, cajole, and sometimes sue

College officials get very uncomfortable discussing the $1-billion or so in annual royalties that their institutions and inventors now make from patents. They'd prefer to talk about how inventions from universities help cure diseases or create jobs in new businesses.

But if there is one thing that makes them even more uneasy than the focus on the money they are making, it's talking about the

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