University of Washington Correspondence 
INTERDEPARTMENTAL 
GOVERNMENT FISCAL RELATIONS AND PATENT OFFICE 
iiasg'a: .tt.v.t,: 
275 Administration 
S ? . J B 
AC-70 
sc: 
Sept umber 27, 1976 
TO: Dr. Robert G. Petersdorf 
Chairman 
Department of Medicine RG-20 
FROM: Wallace C. Treibel 
Government Fiscal Relations and , 
Patent Officer / a 
SUBJECT: Patent Problems Related to Recombinant DNA Research Activity 
Apparently, Dr. Fredrickson is seeking opinions from several sources, since 
earlier this week, I received a copy of an identical letter addressed to 
Mr. Carow of AAMC (via the university business officers headquarters). 
Dr. Fredrickson is concerned about loss of safety controls and possible publi- 
cation delays that may become factors if patents in the DNA research area are 
authorized in the normal manner. These are legitimate concerns, it would seem, 
in view of the fundamental processes involved. Dr. Fredrickson gives no indi- 
cation, however, in his letter that he has discussed this problem with DHEW's 
own patent counsel (Mr. Norman Latker), who might have suggested an effective 
approach. If he had discussed the matter with Mr. Latker, I doubt that he 
would have suggested the several dubious alternatives listed on Page 3 of his 
letter: 
Item (1) is not practical where DREW has granted patent decision rights 
to the University under an Institutional Patent Agreement (IPA). 
Furthermore, publication cannot be entirely relied upon to cut off 
adverse patent claims, i.e., during the one-year period after publica- 
tion when patent applications can be filed. 
Item (2) is also impractical, since universities cannot afford to pay 
for purely protective patents. 
Item (3) assumes that the DHFU Patent Office can handle the job which 
cannot be entrusted to the universities. It further assumes that the 
universities would be unwilling to apply Governmental safety guidelines 
and appropriate publication safeguards in their dealings with licensees. 
I see no reason why the universities would not be fully cooperative in 
these areas, since they have the same concerns as DHEW. The principal 
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