Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of Interest Policies
Click on the Policy Links to the left to view U.Va. and UVAPF policies relating to conflicts of interest.
Letter from the Director
Please read the following letter from the executive director concerning conflicts of interest.
Dear Inventor:
As we hope you know by now, the U.Va. Patent Foundation is very enthusiastic about the value that faculty start-up companies can bring to U.Va., the surrounding community and the public. We continue to expand our ability to support faculty entrepreneurs, and we congratulate and encourage you to continue your efforts to bring important new technologies to market in the Charlottesville region.
Of course, you probably also realize by now that it can get complicated to "wear two hats," and the University and the state legislature have expressed significant concerns about undesirable impacts that might occur as a result of unmanaged conflicts of interest. The Patent Foundation also realizes that such conflicts can create difficulties if they are not recognized and properly managed. We have therefore implemented our own conflict of interest policy statement (MS Word), which is intended not to impede faculty entrepreneurial interests, but only to make sure that we all understand where those conflicts are and what kinds of difficulties we need to avoid.
Unfortunately, the only way to properly discuss conflicts of interest is to discuss the problems that might arise as a result of those conflicts. As you read this policy, please understand that it is not our intention to suggest or imply that we think that these problems will occur or that we think that there is a grave risk of them occurring. To the contrary, the intention of the policy is to point out what those problems are so that you and we can both strive to avoid them.
The Patent Foundation also realizes that faculty entrepreneurs may by necessity have to come to us personally to negotiate license agreements so that their new companies can commercialize technologies that they themselves have developed at U.Va. Our growing experience with such relationships has helped us to understand that faculty sometimes feel very uncomfortable in that situation, not so much because of conflicts of interest problems, but because they realize that we have far more experience and expertise in license negotiations than they do. In order to reassure faculty entrepreneurs that the Patent Foundation would not try to take unfair advantage of them and that the Patent Foundation seeks only to develop a fair and reasonable relationship with the new company, we have developed a set of guidelines for negotiating with faculty entrepreneurs. We hope that you will read it and provide us with any comments or suggestions to help these guidelines be more useful and reassuring to you and fellow entrepreneurs.
Lastly, we feel compelled to explain how difficult it can sometimes be for us to address legal matters with which we are quite accustomed in ways that are not intimidating or alarming to those who spend most of their time in traditional academic pursuits. We therefore encourage you to bring to our attention any discomfort that you may experience in dealing with this letter and the accompanying documents, in order that we can improve them and better communicate with you and your colleagues in the future on these issues.
Sincerely,
Miette H. Michie
Interim Executive Director and CEO
University of Virgina Patent Foundation