4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9,2008
RESEARCH
Patents not pending for the University
BY KENDRA HALL editor@kansan.com
When he was a student, Ron Barrett-Gonzalez found out just how enriching receiving a patent could be.
Barrett-Gonzalez was a graduate student at the University of Maryland and working when he obtained his first patent.
The patent was for a new way to twist rotor blades to reduce vibrations in airplane wings and missile fins.
"Sweetheart, we're going out to eat tonight," said Barrett-Gonzalez, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Kansas, to his wife after he received a $27,000 check from his first patent royalty.
"I'm looking forward to many more patents coming from our students."
Officials at the University also know how enriching patents can be for a university as well.
RON BARRETT-GONZALEZ Associate professor of aerospace engineering
Lawrence campus, patents increased from 22 in 2006 to 38 in 2007. At the University of Kansas Medical Center, the numbers went from six patents to 10 in the same time.
Halfway through its 2008 fiscal year, the Office of Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property reported that revenue from the University's licenses and patents had exceeded its previous year's revenue of $570,000. In 2006, the office brought in $340,000.
Neither compares to the 2005 fiscal year, when the Office of Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property recorded revenue of more than $5.4 million because a company bought the rights to the University's patent to Cyclodextrin, a compound that makes water-insoluble drugs into water-soluble drugs.
James Baxendale, director of the technology transfer office, said the number of KU's patents have increased by 30 to 50 percent annually during the last five years. On the
During the past five years, the number of patents filed on the Lawrence campus has continued to increase. Researchers filed seven patents in 2003, 11 in 2004, 20 in 2005, 22 in 2006 and 38 in 2007. For
the Med Center, researchers filed four in 2003, seven in 2004, seven in 2005, six in 2006 and 10 in 2007.
The number of patents issued during the past five years has also seen increases and decreases on
both KU campuses. Patents issued on the Lawrence campus were 12 in 2003, 16 in 2004, 11 in 2005, 11 in 2006 and five in 2007. The Med Center has seen a decrease in its number of patents actually issued during the past five years. Patents issued at the Med Center were eight in 2003, six in 2004, three in 2005, two in 2006 and one in 2007.
Baxendale said that active licenses had increased as well. He said in 2006 on the Lawrence campus there were 40 licenses that increased in 2007 to 43 active licenses. At the Med Center in 2006 there were 36 licenses that increased to 38 active licenses in 2007.
Andrew Torrance, associate professor of law, teaches classes about intellectual property and patent law. He said that to receive a patient, a researcher must meet certain requirements. The invention must be fully described in words and diagrams and also must be useful and commercially viable.
"Without patents, there would be fewer inventions that come out of
universities," Torrance said.
Torrance said if the companies that bought licenses to KU's patients were successful, it would benefit the University, the inventor's department and the KU Research and Graduate Studies programs. He said that the royalties collected from licenses to KU's patents must be split in thirds among the inventor, the inventor's department and KU Research and Graduate Studies.
Mark Fisher, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, said he also knew the benefits of receiving a patent. His patent is on the Chaperonin/Osmolyte Protein Folding System, which provides a process of folding proteins to their correct structure.
He said that the protein-folding system was highly valuable to the
pharmaceutical industry. Fisher said the estimated worth of the proteinfolding system in the market was $20 million to $50 million and that this number could increase if the method could
be demonstrated to show it could be used in a broader sense.
cuteal chemistry department who has been involved with three start up companies.
As a result of Fisher's patented method, he has received private funds of $75,000 from KTEC and a NIH grant of $100,000 for more research. He said he is also applying for $800,000 for more research. Fisher said an East Coast company wants to open up companies in Kansas using his method.
Halfway through its 2008 fiscal year, revenue from the University's licenses and patents had exceeded its previous year's revenue of $570,000.
Baxendale said that generally the departments related to pharmaceutical sciences brought in the most money as well as the greatest number of patents. He also said that probably the most successful person on campus with patents would be Valentino Stella in the pharma-
However, Baxendale said that an increase in the number of patents did not always mean an increase in revenue. He said revenue depended on the delay it took for a patent to make it to the market. Baxendale said that about 60 percent of inventions involved drug development, which could take up to ten years to hit the market; the University would then receive royalties when the invention made it to the market.
"Start with 10,000 worldwide different compound inventions and only one will make it to the market and it is very costly." Baxendale said.
Baxendale said his office planned
to continue to support the inventions that come out of KU's faculty and students. He said the University would continue to recruit faculty to increase its research.
Barrett-
Gonzalez said he brought in revenue to the University indirectly, but this was not considered royalty money but rather follow-up research. He said he has two projects in progress at the University.
Barrett-Gonzalez now has three of his own patents and three pending patents, one of which is through the University. Barrett-Gonzalez said that he encouraged his undergraduate and graduate students to protect their own ideas by filing for patents.
"I look forward to many more patents coming from our students," Barrett-Gonzalez said.
Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
》 ECONOMY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Survey shows home sales have hit bottom
WASHINGTON—Homeowners and investors hunting for any indication that the housing market has bottomed out didn't get it Tuesday, as the latest home sales data from a real estate trade group moved that sign further down the road to recovery.
The National Association of Realtors said pending U.S. home sales fell in February to the lowest reading since the index began in 2001. The trade group's seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 84.6 from January's upwardly revised reading of 86.2. A year earlier, the index stood at 107.6.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ful about a recovery in the second half of the year.
Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would inch up to a reading of 86.3.
A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales when the index started. The previous low was August's reading of 85.8, recorded at the height of the credit crunch.
"The question was whether things were starting to stabilize," said Global Insight economist Patrick Newport. "Apparently they're not."
With house prices falling and credit continuing to tighten, many economists say the housing market is likely to worsen in the coming months, though some remain hope-
A for sale sign sits at a home in Montpelier, VT, Tuesday. An industry group said Tuesday that pending U.S. home sales fell in February to the lowest reading since the index began, signaling the housing market distress is not yet over.
Newport predicts home sales will fall by another 5 to 10 percent before picking up at the end of the year, while the Realtors group forecasts sales will remain flat in the first half of the year before rebounding strongly in the second half.
The Realtors report gives an early indication of how existing home sales are likely to fare for March, because of the typical lag of a month or two between when a buyer signs a home sales contract and the closing of the deal.
Moody's Economy.com forecasts sales of existing homes will fall 1.6 percent in March to an annual rate of 4.95 million units, down from 5.03 million units in February. That month's 2.9 percent increase in home sales was the first increase since last July.
"Despite recent steps to provide more liquidity to the mortgage market and ease financing constraints for potential buyers, access to credit remains restricted, especially for marginal buyers," Aaron Smith,
senior economist at Economy.com, wrote. If job losses prove worse than expected as the economy slows, "the floor forming under home sales could begin to cave in."
Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, said in a statement that the pending home sales dip "implies we're not out of the woods yet, though an era of successive deep sales declines appears to be over."
The Realtors group maintained its prediction that the housing market would pick up in the second half
of the year, forecasting improved availability of loans for more expensive houses. It forecasts the median price of a U.S. home — the point at which half homes sell for more money and half for less — will fall 1.4 percent to $215,800.
Some analysts say lower home prices are luring bottom-fishers to look for chea deals, but that activity isn't a guaranteed industry booster.
>> STATE
Fishing tactics cause controversy Jug fishing illegal in Kansas; citizens protest, call law unfair
BY LINDSAY SAX editor@kansan.com
On a calm lake during a spring evening, fisherman Sean Self sits in his small metal boat. Throwing his pole out and slowly reeling in the line, he feels a fish biting the lure. Quickly he reels in a small bass. Once the fish is in the boat, he takes it off the hook and gently releases it back into the water.
This is just another fishing trip for Self. He likes to fish with a rod and reel, but others prefer a more unconventional way of fishing, such as jug fishing. No one in Kansas should be doing this, though, because the state has declared it illegal.
Jug fishing employs a free floating flotation device, such as an empty milk jug, with fishing line and hooks suspended below. Jug fishing is legal in three of the four states neighboring Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Missouri, with differing rules in each state.
Officials at the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks have considered changing this law. In December 2007, KDWP asked anglers on its blog site: "Should Kansas allow jug fishing?"
"Not having very big lakes and if you get a lot of people jugging they would be floating all over the lake and creating trash and making it hard for people to ski and things." Self said.
The KDWP meets periodically
to discuss the regulations on fishing. Public input is important to the KDWP, and it often asks Kansans their opinions. The KDWP blog states views on jug fishing, but as of now, no
KDWP has never approved the method of jug fishing. Kansas has more acres of publicly accessible fishing waters than ever before and more lakes exist now than a generation ago, Mathews said. Throughout the years, fish cultures and fisheries management expertise has improved. This expertise enhanced the KDWP's ability to stock and manage fish populations and improved the variety and quality of Kansas fishing.
"As our fish and fish habitat resources increase, anglers and department staff consider new fishing methods to enhance the variety of fishing opportunities available, provided those new fishing methods do not threaten the stability of our fisheries resources," Mathews said.
The KDWP proposed the jug fishing topic on its blog to get the public's support or opposition. Mathews said the blog is not a good measure of public support or opposition, but instead allows a variety of opinions to be expressed.
voiced their opinion about making jug fishing legal.
"We routinely ask for public input before we make a significant change in policies or regulations. The opinions and preferences of our customers are important considerations in any department initiative," Bob Mathews, KDWP chief of information and education, said.
"We routinely ask for public input before we make a significant change in policies or regulations."
formal proposal has been made.
BOB MATHEWS KDWP chief of information and education
"Jug fishing sounds like it would be free floating, and that does not sound like it would be easy to monitor or even find at times," said Kipp J. Walters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Park Ranger at Clinton Lake in Lawrence.
Two types of similar fishing, both legal in Kansas, are trotlines and limb lines. A trotline is a length of cord with several hooks attached to a tree, stump, or another object in the water. A limb line is a piece of cord with a weight attached to the bottom, and an inner tube at the top with hooks in between. In Kansas, these types are legal if tagged with the person's name and checked frequently.
The KDWP decides what policy and regulation changes should occur. An internal committee of KDWP meets periodically to discuss some fishing-related topics and suggestions. In certain cases, Kansas citizens suggest changes that they would like to see. In recent years, Kansas anglers have
"Anyone who reads the blog can read a variety of opinions, for and against the idea, to help form their own opinion on the matter," Mathews said.
The next
next step, if the KDWP decides that jug fishing is good for Kansas, is to propose the change to the KDWP commissioners. The commission is a seven-member group of citizens, appointed by the governor, and conducts public hearings before making decisions on department proposals. Jug fishing has not been formally proposed to the commission.
"I do not know whether or when the jug fishing idea will be proposed to the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission. I have not heard of any specific plans to introduce the jug fishing proposal to the commission," Mathews said.
Until the KDWP agrees on a jug fishing solution, anglers will have to continue fishing like they do now. Self said he had no problem with this.
"I like fishing with a rod because it takes more skill and is more exciting that jugging," Self said.
— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld