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How universities handle potentially patentable discoveries made by their faculty reflects important policy decisions that affect the greater public. While few research administrators in higher education would dispute that any university-owned patent should be used for society's benefit, the relationship between patents and the public good may be less apparent to those whose primary familiarity with patents stems from recent news reports of" patent trolls"'and billion-dollar battles in the smartphone industry.'

Yet no matter the staggering financial rewards often at stake with patents, furthering the public good is, at root, the motivating principle behind the government's award of any patent. The US Constitution provides that,"[t] o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts," Congress has the power to grant inventors" exclusive Right to their... Discoveries."'When a patent is awarded, the public benefits from access to …