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5 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. [1] (2006-2007)

handle is hein.journals/dltr5 and id is 1 raw text is: BARRIERS TO INNOVATION: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRANSACTION COSTS IN SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION MEGAN RISTAU BACA' ABSTRACT The institution of university science research has evolved over the past century, from one of open science and free information to one of competition and jealously guarded intellectual property rights. This iBrief analyzes the background factors driving the evolution of the institution of science, evaluates the net effects on the progress of science, and considers potential short-term solutions to alleviate the legal transaction costs necessary for scientific collaboration. INTRODUCTION ¶I Negotiation, contracts, licensing, and lawyers in general only cause headaches for most university scientists. Time spent doing paperwork or dealing with legal issues only serves to detract from time scientists would otherwise spend on valuable research. Unfortunately for scientists, intellectual property law and policy changes over the course of the 20th Century, and particularly the last several decades, have produced a steady increase in transaction costs necessary to facilitate scientific inquiry. These intellectual property transaction costs increase the expense of performing research and slow the pace of scientific progress. This iBrief examines the legal and policy shifts impacting science, analyzes the resulting impact on the scientific endeavor, and advocates for one organization's efforts to minimize the transaction costs embedded in scientific collaboration. I. PARADIGM SHIFTS IN UNIVERSITY SCIENCE RESEARCH ¶2 Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure ofScientifc Revolutions, famously constructs the concept of a paradigm shift to explain the process of scientific change.2 Kuhn describes the cyclic emergence of scientific novelties or discoveries which subvert the existing tradition of scientific 1 J.D. candidate, 2007, Harvard Law School; M.A in Sociology, Stanford University, 2004; B.S. in Science, Technology & Society, 2004. Special thanks to John Wilbanks, executive director of Science Commons, for his inspiration. 2 THOMAS S. KUHN, THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS 6 (3d ed. 1996) (1962).

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