Mr Justice Elias ruled that although the university can, in principle, seek to recover damages arising out of this breach, in fact no financial losses occurred and Fishel did not have to pay back any profits from his own work. Details of his activities abroad were discovered by the university, although long known by staff and colleagues, when a computer was handed back after his resignation in 1997 and deleted data were recovered from the hard drive. Anderson had been suspended in January after formal complaints concerning his alleged comments about a newly appointed member of staff. The ensuing investigations focused attention on his business links and Oxford University and the Wellcome Trust are now seeking to establish whether Wellcome-funded facilities have been used improperly. Although the Wellcome guidelines state that 'Trust-funded researchers may not consult for a commercial organisation in which they hold a significant equity interest unless the consultancy relates to an area and field outside the research funded by the Trust', we suspect that in many cases there is room for differing interpretations.
Loose guidelines are only of advantage to researchers provided a mutual understanding prevails.
Once the goodwill arrangements turn sour, legal and other disputes become inevitable. Universities, funding bodies, and scientists would be better served by drawing up carefully thought-out agreements before any collaborative efforts with industry or the private sector begin. When scientists start their own companies, independent of a public institution, commercial interests may dominate. The moderating influence of regulatory bodies then becomes critical. William Haseltine, chairman and chief executive of Human Genome Sciences, the company which owns the patent rights on VEGF-2, said that he did not foresee major problems from the delay.