STANFORD UNIVERSITY 
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305 
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT 
FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS 
June 18, 1976 
Dr. Donald S. Frederickson 
Director 
National Institute of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 
Dear Dr. Frederickson: 
From Paul Berg and others I know that you are aware of the 
discussions taking place at Stanford now over the wisdom of pro- 
ceeding (on behalf of Stanford and the University of California) 
with an application for patent protection for discoveries in the 
area of Recombinant DNA. As you know, we began to move in this 
direction with the knowledge and consent of NIH and NSF ; as you 
also know, the whole matter of patent protection is now the subject 
of lively debate here. The purpose of this letter is to solicit 
your views. 
As further background to what you already have, you might be 
interested in the enclosed memorandum in which I have attempted 
to summarize some of the major questions and address them in a way 
that makes sense to me, at least. When I wrote this, I was speak- 
ing for myself only, and I was not trying to articulate University 
policy. From reactions I have received, I would guess that most 
of the University's senior officers would agree with my conclusions 
(though there is dissent), as do many, though not all, faculty. 
One point on which there is substantial unanimity among the officers 
of the University is that, if this line of work is to be developed 
in a way that provides income to the holder of a patent, there is 
no institution or group that has a stronger claim to that income 
than Stanford and the University of California — using as the 
standard for that judgment, the value of the money earned to the 
future progress of scientific research and education. 
Let me emphasize that we do not yet have conclusions. We are 
proceeding with the necessary steps in the patent application 
process and we have had discussions with a prospective licensee. 
We have taken no irrevocable steps, but we are rapidly approaching 
the stage at which binding decisions will need to be taken. By 
that I mean not days, but perhaps a small number of months. Your 
contribution to our deliberations would be extremely valuable. I 
would especially welcome your views on the suggestions at the end 
of my memorandum, but I do not want to limit you to those matters, 
alone. 
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