Wednesday 4 April 2018

The Importance of an Accurate Assessment of Patent Valuation and Potential Market


A recent article in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch by Christopher Yasiejeko describes a patent-related dispute between two academic institutions.  Two major research universities, University of Wisconsin (through its technology licensing arm, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)) and University of Washington, Saint Louis (WUSTL) are engaged in litigation concerning royalty payments over a jointly invented patented invention that was licensed to Abbott Laboratories.  The inventors included a researcher from Wisconsin and one from WUSTL. 
One of the issues with university developed technology is who will cover the patent prosecution costs.  Here, WARF apparently agreed to cover the costs for a higher royalty rate.  The dispute concerns apparent representations made by WARF concerning the value of the patent—allegedly representations were made that the value was not very high by WARF.  WUSTL appears to assert that WARF made representations to others that the patent was actually quite valuable and eventually important to the pharmaceutical, Zemplar, which according to the article “generated $409 million in sales in 2011.”  This appears to be a case where fraud in the inducement in entering the contract is relevant.  However, it seems strange that WUSTL was unable to arrive at their own valuation or understand the potential market for the invention—perhaps they did not have the resources at the time invested in technology transfer.  WARF was likely well financed at that time and certainly experienced.

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