SOCIETY OF UNIVERSITY PATENT ADMINISTRATORS 
PRESIDENT 
Mr. R.iy Woodrow 
Princeton University 
P. O. Box 36 
Princeton. \. J. 
08540 
PAST PRESIDENT 
Dr. George H. Pickiir 
Patents &• I, incensing 
University of Miami 
P. O. Box 249133 
University liranch 
Coral Gables, Ha. 
33124 
VICE PRESIDENT 
EASTERN REGION 
Mr. Lawrence Gilbert 
Patent Administrator 
Boston University 
Commonwealth Avenue 
Boston, Ma. 
02215 
VICE PRESIDENT 
CENTRAL REGION 
Dr. Ralph L. Davis 
Patent Manager 
Purdue Research Kdn. 
West Lafavettc, Ind. 
47907 
VICE PRESIDENT 
WESTERN REGION 
Mr. Clarence W. Martin 
Director 
Patent & Product Dev. 
University of Utah 
' Salt Lake City, Utah 
84112 
February 11, 1977 
Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson 
Director 
Room 124 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, Maryland 20014 
Dear Dr. Fredrickson: 
The Society of University Patent Administrators is a 
relatively new organization which has as its most important 
objective the advancement of ways and means by which university 
inventions and discoveries can be identified, developed and 
transferred into public use. Some of the aspects of inventions 
and patents in universities are covered in the enclosed copy 
of my testimony before Congressman Thornton's Subcommittee 
last fall. 
In the area of university technology resulting from 
Government sponsored research in universities, the Department 
of Health, Education and Welfare has had the foresight to 
be first in recognizing the need for special arrangements which 
are exemplified by its Institutional Patent Agreement which 
has been a forerunner for similar agreements from other 
agencies. However, HEW's position has not been favorable 
with regard to the allowability of costs involved in applying 
for patents and licensing users, costs which must be incurred 
if the general intent of the Institutional Patent Agreements 
is to be fulfilled. 
SECRETARY- 
TREASURER 
Dr. Earl J. I rcisc 
Assistant Director 
Office of Research Ik- 
Sponsored Programs 
Northwestern Univ. 
Evanston, 111. 
60201 
We would like to urge that the National Institutes of 
Health take a position that these costs be allowable when 
university indirect cost rates are computed. We estimate 
that the effect would be less than one-half a percentage point 
in a university indirect cost rate, a relatively small cost 
to provide an incentive for transferring inventions and 
discoveries from Government sponsored research into public use. 
We urge that the patent costs be prorated in the indirect 
cost rate over all organized research of a university, not just 
over Government research where the Government has title or 
a royalty free license to patents. We urge this for two reasons: 
first, it will facilitate a single university patent program 
rather than separate programs for government and non-government 
research; and second, prorating costs of a patent program over 
both non-government and government financed research provides 
a strong incentive for an efficient patent program, since 
the university will have to pay its fairly allocated share. 
All otner university indirect cost functions are prorated in 
this way between Government sponsored and other university 
activities . 
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