[FC-discuss] Open University Campaign: Patent Notion

[Matt Senate]

Hey all,

The name is Matt Senate, Free Culture undergrad at UC Berkeley. Some of 
us have been discussing the ambiguity of the fourth requirement for an 
"Open University":

/4. If the university holds patents 
<http://wiki.freeculture.org/Open_University_Campaign/Patents>, it 
readily licenses them for free software, essential medicines, and the 
public good./

The other requirements are straight-forward and seemingly attainable. 
However the "public good" claim here seems too open-ended. Is this 
fourth requirement realistic? Do we wish it to remain an ideal or do we 
want to think practically? In what ways can we demand our Universities 
to openly license patents that are created through University research? 
Perhaps only demanding the release of free software and essential 
medicines is one end of the spectrum (a very realistic/practical goal). 
The other end would then be the release of all patents (one argument 
being that publicly funded research should be open to the public). Where 
do we want to fall on this spectrum, or better yet, what is the *best* 
position that will be the most fruitful overall?

I and other Berkeley FCers appreciate any and all thoughts.

- Matt Senate
University of California at Berkeley
Mathematics / Creative Writing
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