#Middlebury #Veterans #FalseClaimsAct #Patents
VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
This is certainly a new one. A famous (and expensive) university and a professor were caught not paying the Department of Veterans Affairs what was owed for patents, to the tune of $1.5 million.
The professor in question worked at the university in various research positions, including as the chair of one department. His list of titles and positions is quite impressive, not to mention his long list of honors and awards. In other words, the guy is no slouch. He’s clearly bright and is working in an important medical field. At the same time he held a part-time position at the VA.
Both the professor and the university were under disclosure agreements, which meant that any discoveries or inventions the professor made at the university would be reported to the VA. While at the university, having created three inventions, the professor applied for three patents with the VA’s part clearly noted.
What’s key here is that part of the funding for the research came from VA grants. In other words, taxpayers paid for some of it.
Years later, the royalty payments started rolling in from those three patents. During one round of submitting paperwork for the patents, the detail about the VA having supported the research was omitted.
Notified about the lapse, the professor refiled and the VA pounced, wanting to claim an ownership interest in the inventions … and the royalties. The Department of Justice got involved with the end result that the university and the professor have to pay $1.5 million under the False Claims Act for failure to share the patent royalties.
I was prepared to hate the guy, truly. I found dozens of professional videos online wherein he talked about the research, and I was prepared to label him a swindler, a low life, a thief. Instead, I’m left pointing the finger of blame at the university itself. They should have had someone to watch over the details and to handle paperwork matters such as correctly filing patents so the professor could keep doing his work.
© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.
