Dear all,

As some of you may know, there was a recent change in the Office of  
Technology Transfer with the departure of Jennifer Murphy. There is a  
new director of  Innovation and Intellectual Property. Her name is  
Veronica Kayne ([log in to unmask]). With the change in leadership there  
is a change in paradigm. Mason used to spend $360K/year to file and  
prosecute patents and the corresponding revenue stream from licensing  
was on the order of $20K. The new model will emphasize monetization of  
inventions. Here is in a nutshell what will happen from now on:

1. OTT will continue to file provisional patent applications. These  
are relatively cheap.

2. Before the final application is filed (this is more expensive), a  
significant vetting process will take place to determine if it is  
worthwhile to spend the money to file and prosecute the patent. OTT  
wants to use a group of entrepreneurs, law firms in the intellectual  
property space, faculty advisors, and the inventors to do the proper  
evaluation before a final decision is made.

3. OTT will also be using the services of law firms that will be  
compensated on a success basis to sue for patent infringement when  
appropriate.

Danny



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Dr. Daniel A. Menasce
Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Computer Science
Volgenau School of Engineering,
Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building, Room 2510, MS 5C8
George Mason University
4400 University Dr.,
Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
www.cs.gmu.edu/faculty/menasce.html