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Science 14 February 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5609, p. 1021
DOI: 10.1126/science.299.5609.1021
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Policy Forum

SCIENCE AND THE LAW:
Working Through the Patent Problem

John P. Walsh,* Ashish Arora, Wesley M. Cohen

Interviews with personnel from firms, universities, and other organizations indicate that biomedical research typically proceeds despite challenges posed by a growing number of patents on research tools. Respondents address these challenges with licensing, inventing around patents, going offshore, the development and use of public databases and research tools, court challenges, and simply using the technology without a license (i.e., infringement), often informally invoking a de facto broad "research exemption."

J. P. Walsh is in the Department of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607-7140, USA, and the Research Center for Advanced Economic Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. A. Arora is at the Heinz School of Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA. W. M. Cohen is at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jwalsh{at}uic.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)