Intellectual Property Policy

 

The following agreement shall govern the relationship of the BrightFocus Foundation ("BrightFocus") to Intellectual Property interests arising from research conducted under the following award:

BrightFocus Foundation ("BrightFocus") has designed its Intellectual Policy to be consistent with our over-riding goals, that is, to maximize the dissemination of science to the public and to the commercial sector, and to encourage the efficient flow of research funds to investigators. Consistent with these goals, we seek a reasonable share in the financial returns obtained when research we have funded becomes a commercial success. One hundred percent of any such financial returns are re-invested by BrightFocus into future scientific research and education.

BrightFocus attempts to minimize the transaction costs associated with each award, so that a greater share of each philanthropy dollar can be devoted to scientific research. To that end, we have redesigned the structure of our contract to reflect issues that have been raised in the past by Grantee Institutions. We have also tried to structure our contract provisions to anticipate the concerns of our Grantee Institutions, especially regarding the restrictions they are under when having to comply with the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980.

Date of last review was March 30, 2020.

First published on: October 28, 2021

Last modified on: March 17, 2024