Important Changes to Patent Royalty Sharing Practices

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

At Yale, we are always pursuing ways to better support our researchers and help amplify their impact. Your insights and groundbreaking work are essential to our mission of improving the world. Today, we are excited to announce changes to our patent royalty sharing practices that will further encourage the translation of faculty research into products and services that benefit society. 

To date, the inventors of patentable university intellectual property received a share of licensing income, and the remainder was retained by the university to fund our technology transfer operations and other general research support. 

Going forward, the university will distribute 100% of the net income generated from new technologies to the individuals and academic units responsible for the invention. Inventors will receive a larger percentage of the income and funds will be distributed in fixed percentages directly to the laboratory, department, and school where the invention originated. At the highest tier—licenses generating at least $200,000 of income—Yale inventors will receive 30% of the income share, up from 27%, and the inventor’s lab and department will receive 15% each, new additions to university practices. The remaining 40% will be distributed to the inventor’s school. These changes will be applied to future income resulting from inventions disclosed to Yale Ventures beginning October 1, 2022. The prior patent royalty sharing practice will continue to be applied to inventions disclosed before this date. Additional details can be found on the Yale Ventures website in the Patent Policy section.

Faculty entrepreneurs are the heartbeat of our innovation ecosystem here at Yale and this change marks an important milestone in our continued development of an entrepreneurial culture on campus. We are grateful for your partnership and the work of the Yale Ventures team in facilitating the transfer of new inventions to market and for supporting a robust, wide-ranging pipeline of Yale discoveries that will benefit society.

Sincerely,

Scott Strobel
Provost

Michael C. Crair
Vice Provost for Research