IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 319 
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the successful and substantial 
contributions of the amendments to the patent and trademark laws 
that were enacted in 1980 (Public Law 96–517; commonly known as 
the ‘‘Bayh-Dole Act’’), on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its 
enactment. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 16, 2005 
Mr. SENSENBRENNER (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. GOR-
DON, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. WU, Mr. 
COBLE, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. 
CANNON, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. FEENEY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 
MILLER of North Carolina, and Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina) submitted 
the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the success-
ful and substantial contributions of the amendments to 
the patent and trademark laws that were enacted in 
1980 (Public Law 96–517; commonly known as the 
‘‘Bayh-Dole Act’’), on the occasion of the 25th anniver-
sary of its enactment. 
Whereas article I, section 8, clause 8, of the United States 
Constitution provides that Congress shall have Power 
‘‘[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, 
by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors
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the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Dis-
coveries’’; 
Whereas the 96th Congress enacted Public Law 96–517, en-
titled ‘‘An Act to amend the patent and trademark laws’’ 
(commonly known as the ‘‘Bayh-Dole Act’’, in honor of 
its two lead sponsors in the Senate, the Honorable Birch 
Bayh and the Honorable Bob Dole), in 1980; 
Whereas for 15 to 20 years before the enactment of the 
Bayh-Dole Act, Members of Congress considered, dis-
cussed, and deliberated on the proper resolution of issues 
implicated by the Act; 
Whereas before the enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act, the 
United States was confronted by great economic uncer-
tainty and presented with unprecedented new challenges 
from foreign industrial competition; 
Whereas before 1980, only 5 percent of patents owned by the 
Federal Government were used by the private sector—a 
situation that resulted in the American people being de-
nied the benefits of further development, disclosure, ex-
ploitation, and commercialization of the Government’s 
patent portfolio; 
Whereas the Bayh-Dole Act established a ‘‘single, uniform 
national policy designed to . . . encourage private indus-
try to utilize government financed inventions through the 
commitment of the risk capital necessary to develop such 
inventions to the point of commercial application’’, and 
eliminated the 26 different Federal agency policies that 
had existed regarding the use of the results of federally 
funded research and development; 
Whereas the Bayh-Dole Act fundamentally changed the Fed-
eral Government’s patent policies by enabling inventors
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or their employers to retain patent rights in inventions 
developed as part of federally funded research grants, 
thereby promoting licensing and the leveraging of con-
tributions by the private sector towards applied research, 
and facilitating the transfer of technology from the lab-
oratory bench to the marketplace; 
Whereas examples of the tangible products and technologies 
that have resulted from the Bayh-Dole Act include, inter 
alia, an improved method for preserving organs for trans-
plant, a lithography system to enable the manufacture of 
nano-scale 
devices, 
the 
development 
of 
new 
chemotherapeutic agents, the discovery of new therapies 
for the treatment of patients diagnosed with rheumatoid 
arthritis, and countless other advances in materials, elec-
tronics, energy, environmental protection, and informa-
tion technologies; 
Whereas these new therapies, technologies, and inventions, 
which have resulted from the collaborative environment 
fostered by the Bayh-Dole Act, have directly contributed 
to the ability of medical researchers to discover and com-
mercialize new treatments that alleviate patient suffering, 
enhance the ability of doctors to diagnose and treat dis-
ease, and target promising new medical research; 
Whereas the Bayh-Dole Act has stimulated two of the major 
contemporary scientific trends of the last quarter cen-
tury—the development of the biotechnology and informa-
tion communications industries—and the Act is poised to 
continue playing a central role in new fields of innovative 
activities, including nanotechnology; 
Whereas the Bayh-Dole Act has resulted in benefitting tax-
payers by generating millions of dollars in annual licens-
ing royalties for universities and nonprofit institutions—
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revenues that are reinvested in furtherance of additional 
research and education programs; 
Whereas the incentives provided under the Act and the ex-
change of technology and research between and among 
the research community, small businesses, and industry, 
have resulted in new cooperative ventures and the emer-
gence of sophisticated high-technology businesses, which 
provide a major catalyst for innovation and entrepre-
neurial activity; 
Whereas more than 4,000 new companies have been created 
to develop and market academic research and develop-
ment since 1980, and it is estimated that nearly 2300 of 
these companies were still in operation at the end of fis-
cal year 2003; 
Whereas Lita Nelsen, director of the Technology Licensing 
Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has 
described the Bayh-Dole Act as ‘‘one of the most success-
ful pieces of economic development and job-creation legis-
lation in recent history’’; 
Whereas the Bayh-Dole Act was described in a 2002 article 
in The Economist (US) as ‘‘[p]ossibly the most inspired 
piece of legislation to be enacted in America over the past 
half-century . . . More than anything, this single policy 
measure helped to reverse America’s precipitous slide into 
industrial irrelevance’’; 
Whereas the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found 
that university administrators and small business rep-
resentatives considered the Bayh-Dole Act to have had ‘‘a 
significant impact on their research and innovation ef-
forts’’;
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Whereas a study of business executives found that 9 out of 
10 identified the Bayh-Dole Act as an ‘‘important factor’’ 
in decisions to fund research and development in aca-
demia; 
Whereas Howard Bremer, who served as patent counsel to 
the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation from 1960 to 
1988, once observed that, ‘‘[o]ne important factor . . . 
is that the success was achieved without cost to the tax-
payer. In other words, no separate appropriation of gov-
ernment funds was needed to establish or manage the ef-
fort’’; 
Whereas a 1998 GAO study found that the law had a positive 
impact on all involved and that the increased commer-
cialization of federally funded research that resulted from 
implementation of the Act had positively affected both 
the Federal Government and the American people; 
Whereas the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and 
Technology reported to the President in May 2003 that 
the Act ‘‘dramatically improved the nation’s ability to 
move ideas from research and development to the mar-
ketplace and into commerce’’ and that the system put in 
place for transferring technology from nonprofit institu-
tions, which includes universities and Government labora-
tories, to the private sector has worked well; 
Whereas the Bayh-Dole Act states, ‘‘[i]t is the policy and ob-
jective of the Congress to promote the utilization of in-
ventions arising from federally-supported research or de-
velopment; . . . to promote collaboration between commer-
cial concerns and nonprofit organizations, including uni-
versities; . . . to promote the commercialization and pub-
lic availability of inventions made in the United States by 
United States industry and labor; [and] to ensure that
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the Government obtains sufficient rights in federally-sup-
ported inventions to meet the needs of the Government 
and protect the public against nonuse or unreasonable 
use of inventions’’; 
Whereas the Congress finds that the policies and objectives 
of the Bayh-Dole Act have been achieved and that the 
patent law has played a critical role in stimulating tech-
nological advances and disclosing useful technical infor-
mation to the public; 
Whereas the Congress finds that federally-funded research at 
universities and Government laboratories and the part-
nerships between such nonprofit institutions and the pri-
vate sector play a critical role in developing the tech-
nologies that allow the United States to lead the world 
in innovation; and 
Whereas the Bayh-Dole Act and its subsequent amendments, 
which include the Trademark Clarification Act of 1984 
(Public Law 98–620), have played a vital role in enabling 
the United States to become renowned as the world lead-
er in scientific research, innovation, ingenuity, and col-
laborative research that involves institutions of higher 
education and the private sector: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) the Bayh-Dole Act (Public Law 96–517) 
has made substantial contributions to the advance-
ment of scientific and technological knowledge, fos-
tered dramatic improvements in public health and 
safety, strengthened the higher education system in 
the United States, served as a catalyst for the devel-
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opment of new domestic industries that have created 
tens of thousands of new jobs for American citizens, 
strengthened States and local communities across 
the country, and benefitted the economic and trade 
policies of the United States; and 
(2) it is appropriate that the Congress reaffirm 
its commitment to the policies and objectives of the 
Bayh-Dole Act by acknowledging its contributions 
and commemorating the silver anniversary of its en-
actment. 
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