Speak Up on the Framework for Agencies to Exercise of March-In Rights
Today, HHS/DOC released a Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights.
Unfortunately, this document specifies that the reasonableness of a product's price may be a factor that an agency can consider when deciding to exercise march-in rights. This policy will create significant uncertainty in licensing federally funded inventions.
The public comment period opens tomorrow. Please exercise your rights to voice your concerns with this proposal. This will impact you and your organization. Depending on your institution's policies, you may be able to post your comments personally.
You may also want to consider posting comments on behalf of your employer - however, please ensure that you have the proper authority and permissions to do so.
The AUTM Board is reviewing our options on how best to advocate against the price provisions in this policy that seem arbitrary and uncertain.
We encourage you to:
- Attend the December 13th webinar mentioned above
- Voice your perspectives on this within the comment period (next sixty days)
- Engage with your networks to encourage them to weigh in on this as well (startups, licensees, researchers, inventors, investors, etc.)
We appreciate your attention to this.