The University periodically revises and updates its policies and procedures regarding patents and tangible research property, to ensure that such policies and procedures keep pace with best practices and national trends and meet the needs of the community. In the face of the increased complexity of the University’s patent portfolio, a faculty and staff committee was convened to determine whether changes to the policy were necessary.
The committee recommended several revisions, of which the most significant were:
- decreasing the initial deduction in revenue distribution to 5%;
- extending the deadline for revenue distribution by 15 days; and
- shifting the process of revenue distribution to the Schools, rather than directly to departments, to better enable equitable distributions to stakeholders.
These revisions were approved as required by the Board of Trustees and the Trustees Academic Policy Committee, and they were also reviewed by the Council of Deans, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, the Provost Council on Research, the Academic Planning and Budget Committee, the Provost’s Senior Management Group, and the Executive Committee of the Penn Center for Innovation. The policy took effect on July 1, 2021. View the full policy.
From Wendell Pritchett, Provost and Dawn Bonnell, Senior Vice Provost for Research
