Universities around the world have frequently struggled with the
competing aims of serving the public interest by disseminating
knowledge created through research, and of ensuring that where
possible the intellectual property associated with such knowledge
is appropriately protected, developed and commercialised. Both
approaches can provide substantial benefits to the university and
to society generally.
Patentable inventions and other marketable forms of intellectual
property (IP) may result from research undertaken at a university.
Universities have traditionally found it difficult to avoid the
loss of patentable technology through the premature disclosure of
that technology before commercialisation. The majority of
jurisdictions have patent laws that stipulate that public
disclosure of a patentable invention before a patent application
has been filed will invalidate any subsequent patent obtained for
that invention. Consequently, it is necessary to ensure
