From Discovery to Market
Most patent claims are drafted to survive examination, not to support licensing deals. Here's what gets lost when prosecution strategy ignores commercial reality.
A. KovacsUniversity patent priority decisions are usually made by administrators, not commercialization strategists, and the timing guarantees bad outcomes. Here's what to fix.
A. KovacsReach-through royalty provisions look like smart IP protection but routinely kill university-industry deals. Here's what to do instead.
A. KovacsMost invention valuation methods in tech transfer generate figures that satisfy spreadsheets but fail negotiations. Here's what actually works.
A. KovacsMost license milestone structures protect universities from inaction but accidentally punish real development progress. Here's what to do instead.
A. KovacsSublicensing provisions in university license agreements often hand control to licensees by default. Here's what to negotiate before it's too late.
A. KovacsMost university patent prosecution focuses on legal coverage, not commercial timing. Here's why that mismatch quietly kills licensing deals before they start.
A. KovacsMost NDAs in university-industry research partnerships are written to protect everyone and end up protecting no one. Here's why, and what to do instead.
A. KovacsMost tech transfer royalty negotiations anchor on industry averages and gut feel. Here's why that produces bad deals and what to use instead.
A. KovacsMTAs look like administrative paperwork, but buried clauses routinely strip universities and startups of the IP rights they need to commercialize research.
A. KovacsField-of-use restrictions in university license agreements promise focused commercialization but routinely strangle deal value and block better applications from reaching market.
A. KovacsVague IP assignment language in sponsored research agreements creates ownership disputes that kill commercialization deals years after the science is done.
A. KovacsExclusive licenses feel like wins for everyone at signing. Here's why they quietly kill commercialization, and what to structure instead.
A. KovacsOption agreements should de-risk early licensing deals, but most TTOs use them wrong. Here's what's broken and how to fix it.
A. KovacsInvention disclosure forms are often the first step in tech transfer, and one of the most damaging. Here's what needs to change.
A. KovacsTRL scores feel objective but are routinely gamed or misread. Here's what's really happening and how to use them honestly.
A. KovacsEquity splits between founders, universities, and early investors derail more spinouts than bad science. Here's what actually works.
A. KovacsSponsored research agreements shape IP ownership, licensing rights, and spinout potential before a patent is ever filed. Here's what most researchers miss.
A. KovacsProof-of-concept funding is the missing bridge between lab discovery and licensable technology, here's why most institutions underinvest in it.
A. KovacsMost university licensing deals collapse not because of bad science or bad intent, but because of preventable negotiation failures. Here's what actually goes wrong.
A. KovacsHow mismatched expectations between VCs and university spinouts create a death spiral during due diligence.
A. KovacsPatent licensing revenue misleads universities about tech transfer success, here's what metrics actually predict commercial impact.
A. KovacsCorporate VCs systematically lose out on promising university spinouts due to misaligned incentives and poor deal sourcing strategies.
A. KovacsMost industry-university partnerships collapse within two years. Here's why most fail and three proven models that deliver results.
A. KovacsMost university spinouts fail because brilliant researchers become accidental executives without proper transition support.
A. KovacsUniversity TTOs focus on licensing revenue and patent counts instead of startup success and economic impact.
A. KovacsUniversity research dies between the lab and the market at staggering rates. The reasons are structural, not accidental, and most proposed fixes miss the point entirely.
A. KovacsSBIR and STTR grants offer non-dilutive funding with built-in customer discovery, yet most technical founders overlook them. That is a mistake.
A. Kovacs