Greetings from NDSU.

We are working with commodity groups in our state to establish a single
research agreement that all of the state check-off commodity groups can use
when providing funding to the University.  A draft was prepared and we will
be meeting the end of this month with leaders of commodity groups to
discuss it and hopefully reach a consensus.

What has been proposed is that Discoveries remain the property of the
University, but that net revenues from licensing/patents be shared by the
parties.  The proposed split is 5% (or less if desired) to the Sponsor and
95% (or the remainder) to the University.  If the Sponsor elects to receive
a share of the royalties, the Sponsor must reinvest such proceeds into
commodity research only and exclusively at University.

Of course the issue comes up surrounding Bayh/Dole, and we are trying to
limit any sharing to only those licenses/patents where 100% of the funding
came from the commodity group and there was no federal funding.

I would be interested in comments from others that are discussing a similar
type of arrangement or have such an arrangement already in place.

Other comments, recommendations and advice would also be appreciated.

I know that at the NASULGC meeting in Washington in November there was a
group that met to discuss agreements with commodity groups, as well as
issues surrounding royalties and the potential sharing of royalties.  I
would be interested in hearing from you as well.

You can respond to the list or to me individually at
xxxxxx@ndsu.nodak.edu, or telephone me at the number below.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Sincerely,
Valrey V. Kettner
Assistant Vice President
Sponsored Programs Administration
(701) 231-9608 (direct line)

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