Are university researchers at risk for patent infringement?
Could university professors performing basic research be successfully sued for infringing patents?
“Just because a researcher has not been sued does not mean he or she will not be in the near future. And if a researcher has a stake in a commercial startup company that is spun out of university research, she or he may be in for a rude surprise.”
Academic researchers have regularly ignored patents on key technologies as a strategy to maneuver around patent thickets and freedom-to-operate issues, but they may be more at risk than they realize.