Managing Intellectual Property for Agriculture Inventions in the University

One essential function of a technology transfer office is the proactive management of intellectual property related to crops and germplasm. Most of the agriculture stations and universities over the world have established technology transfer offices to protect their own plant varieties all over the world. This paper focuses on the patent policies, technology transfer policies and special practices within the office of technology commercialization at the University of California, which, by some measures, is the largest public technology transfer program in the world.