November 28, 2005
A patented approach | Leonard Agneta is the new executive director of the Maine Patent Program
By Michaela Cavallaro
Amid the frequently gloomy reports on the status of Maine's economy, it's a bit of a shock to hear Leonard Agneta explain why he decided to take a position as executive director of the Maine Patent Program. "It was the commitment I saw Maine making to develop a high-tech economy," he says. "The network we have in Maine is not like any I'm aware of."
Agneta, 42, came to his new post last month from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he was director of the intellectual property office as well as associate general counsel for intellectual property for the University of Nebraska. Between that experience and his time as a patent attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., Agneta says he's become familiar with many states' programs for encouraging innovation both at the university level and among small businesses. "I don't know of an equivalent to the Maine Patent Program," he says. "And with [the Maine Technology Institute], the manufacturing institutes ˆ it says to me that Maine really is serious about changing its economy from traditional farming and manufacturing to something that will create the kinds of jobs people want to work at, with good pay and a high standard of living."
The Maine Patent Program, a division of the Center for Law and Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law in Portland, helps inventors and small businesses understand the patent process; it provides assistance, for example, in researching existing patents to determine whether a given invention is patentable.
Program staff also frequently work with faculty members from the state university system to determine the prospects for patenting their discoveries. That process has been increasing in recent years; as of the mid-90s, for example, the University of Maine held just five patents. Today, it has a portfolio of 50 patents and patents pending. One of Agneta's goals in his new job is to continue to foster relationships between the private sector and the university system. "These independent inventors and small-business people have the will to be champions of these inventions," he says. "The universities have the facilities and the resources, but not the time."
While such collaborations can be fruitful, they also can create complicated legal problems related to the ownership of a given invention. In fact, there's been some recent debate ˆ prompted in part by a September article in Fortune magazine ˆ that the current system, in which universities, rather than the federal government, own the rights to inventions funded with public money, is deeply flawed, that it discourages innovation rather than encouraging it. Agneta firmly disagrees. "Faculty research at public institutions is sponsored by the public," he says. "So the public has an interest in that research, and the university has a responsibility to make sure that money is invested wisely."
As for ownership rights, Agneta likens the situation to constructing an office building: "You have to start with a very good foundation. If the initial contracts that sponsor the research are flawed in that the ownership rights are not concretely held by the university, it can be devastating," he says.
Part of the solution to that problem, according to Agneta, is the availability of attorneys who are well trained in patent law and contract terms. The Maine Patent Program typically has three externs from the law school who stay with the program for two semesters; Agneta would like to expand the externships, perhaps even creating what he describes as a "full-blown legal clinic" so students become more fully versed in the system. The end result, he says, would be beneficial for Maine businesses ˆ and for the state's economy. "If we can prepare them to serve startup companies and existing businesses, and they're familiar with conventional [contract] terms," he says, "those deals will be facilitated."
Agneta, 42, came to his new post last month from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he was director of the intellectual property office as well as associate general counsel for intellectual property for the University of Nebraska. Between that experience and his time as a patent attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., Agneta says he's become familiar with many states' programs for encouraging innovation both at the university level and among small businesses. "I don't know of an equivalent to the Maine Patent Program," he says. "And with [the Maine Technology Institute], the manufacturing institutes ˆ it says to me that Maine really is serious about changing its economy from traditional farming and manufacturing to something that will create the kinds of jobs people want to work at, with good pay and a high standard of living."
The Maine Patent Program, a division of the Center for Law and Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law in Portland, helps inventors and small businesses understand the patent process; it provides assistance, for example, in researching existing patents to determine whether a given invention is patentable.
Program staff also frequently work with faculty members from the state university system to determine the prospects for patenting their discoveries. That process has been increasing in recent years; as of the mid-90s, for example, the University of Maine held just five patents. Today, it has a portfolio of 50 patents and patents pending. One of Agneta's goals in his new job is to continue to foster relationships between the private sector and the university system. "These independent inventors and small-business people have the will to be champions of these inventions," he says. "The universities have the facilities and the resources, but not the time."
While such collaborations can be fruitful, they also can create complicated legal problems related to the ownership of a given invention. In fact, there's been some recent debate ˆ prompted in part by a September article in Fortune magazine ˆ that the current system, in which universities, rather than the federal government, own the rights to inventions funded with public money, is deeply flawed, that it discourages innovation rather than encouraging it. Agneta firmly disagrees. "Faculty research at public institutions is sponsored by the public," he says. "So the public has an interest in that research, and the university has a responsibility to make sure that money is invested wisely."
As for ownership rights, Agneta likens the situation to constructing an office building: "You have to start with a very good foundation. If the initial contracts that sponsor the research are flawed in that the ownership rights are not concretely held by the university, it can be devastating," he says.
Part of the solution to that problem, according to Agneta, is the availability of attorneys who are well trained in patent law and contract terms. The Maine Patent Program typically has three externs from the law school who stay with the program for two semesters; Agneta would like to expand the externships, perhaps even creating what he describes as a "full-blown legal clinic" so students become more fully versed in the system. The end result, he says, would be beneficial for Maine businesses ˆ and for the state's economy. "If we can prepare them to serve startup companies and existing businesses, and they're familiar with conventional [contract] terms," he says, "those deals will be facilitated."
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