WASHINGTON (December 7, 2023) — Today, the Biden administration claimed a newfound authority, under the 43-year-old Bayh-Dole Act, to rescind patent licenses on drugs, energy, climate change, and all other inventions that benefit from federal research funding.
Frank Cullen, executive director of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP), issued the following statement denouncing the decision:
“C4IP vehemently opposes the Biden administration’s attempt to misuse the Bayh-Dole Act to impose price controls on groundbreaking inventions. Today’s decision poses a grave threat to American innovation, precisely at a time when we need more innovation to compete with China and others challenging our technological lead.
“The 1980 Bayh-Dole catalyzed an unprecedented wave of American innovation by enabling universities and other nonprofits to license their federally-funded discoveries and inventions to the private sector. In so doing, the law helped bring hundreds of new technologies to market, including numerous revolutionary drugs. The law is credited with adding nearly $2 trillion to America’s GDP.
“The framework the administration released today contravenes the plain text of the law, which stipulates that march-in can only be used to relicense patents under narrow circumstances, none of which relate to price. It also runs counter to the explicit intent of Bayh-Dole’s authors and decades-long bipartisan consensus on the appropriate limits of government intervention through march-in. If the government begins abusing march-in to relicense patents on breakthrough discoveries, it will stifle investment in energy, climate change, medicines, and all other technologies that benefit millions across the globe.
“During the upcoming 60-day public input period, C4IP plans to submit detailed comments urging the administration to reverse course on this dangerous decision.”
About Council for Innovation Promotion: The Council for Innovation Promotion is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to promoting strong and effective intellectual property rights that drive innovation, boost economic competitiveness, and improve lives everywhere.