Assistant to the President patent records

Collection

Identifier: UR-01-012

Staff Only

Scope and content note

This collection consists of administrative files relating to both patents and the Patent Advisory Committee. It also contains a series of files on individual patent applications where ownership was considered by the Patent Advisory Committee. Files were created by the following: Carl Gatlin, vice president for academic affairs, 1965-1969; S. Herbert Raynes, assistant vice president for academic affairs, 1966-1970, and later assistant to the president, 1970-1974; and M. Jerry Kenig, assistant to the president, 1974-1982.

Dates

1966-1982

Creator

Raynes, S. Herbert, Jr. (Person)

Access restrictions

The collection is open for research use.

Administrative History

In 1965, the Drexel Institute of Technology first formulated a policy on patents resulting from research carried out by Drexel employees and students. The policy stated that Drexel would own the patents, laid out what portion of the profits the inventor and Drexel would each receive, and made exceptions for inventions that were made without support from Drexel. Around 1970, a Patent Advisory Committee was established by the institute to review and make recommendations regarding cases where patent ownership was unclear. As the volume of patents owned by Drexel grew, the committee was also made responsible for the licensing and marketing of patents, first through the Research Corporation and later also through the Burrelle Development Corporation. The Patent Advisory Committee was first appointed, and later chaired, by the vice president for academic affairs. In the early 1970s, this responsibility was transferred to the assistant to the president.