U.C. Berkeley

Patents and Entrepreneurship

BCLT has received a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. These funds will be used to support a comprehensive program of research, policy analysis and widespread dissemination exploring the relationship between patent policy and entrepreneurship. The goals of the project are to:

1. identify the aspects of the U.S. patent system that encourage and accelerate entrepreneurial activity and those aspects that act as actual or potential impediments to entrepreneurs, particularly in high growth technology sectors such as computer software, Internet, and biotechnology industries;
2. formulate legal and policy proposals and recommendations designed to mitigate or eliminate such impediments while preserving or strengthening those aspects that promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial investments in innovation; and
3. disseminate the project�s research findings and policy proposals to a national audience and raise the visibility of entrepreneurship considerations in major public policy debates about patent reform.