It may look as if P&G is very philanthropic in donating their patents.
However, I have first hand knowledge that there is probably another angle to
this.
A company (e.g. P & G) that has a patent portfolio which does not match
their future needs can hire a consulting company (e.g. Arthur D. Little) to
assess what the technology is worth. By donating these patents to a
university, the company can use the assessed value of the patents to get a
tremendous tax break.
In the United States,this is similar in concept to giving your used car to
charity and taking the tax break allowed on charitable donations.
Regards,
Al Hastbacka
-----Original Message-----
From: Elaine Hunt <ehunt@ces.clemson.edu>
To: rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi <rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi>
Date: Thursday, October 28, 1999 4:56 AM
Subject: Fwd: PHAST- Who can tell me what that is?
>PHAST is a process similar to 3D KELTOOL which was developed by Jim Tobin
>while a student at UTexas-Austin and continued during his employment at
>Proctor and Gamble. It was licensed to Plynetics Express and after they
>closed the (or maybe before) all rights went back to P&G. Well Jim has
>left P&G and moved back to NC. I am sure that P&G does not see this as part
>of their core business operations and like other companies such as Dupont
>(Somos System) do not wish to develop something that is not part of their
>overall product line.
>
>I appreciate the fact that P&G gave this to a university to develop and if
>MSOE can use this type of research to educate as well as further RT then
>hooray! Many companies hoard patents that they have no intentions on
>developing while educators struggle with a lack of funds. If more
>companies followed P&G lead I wonder how far down the road to RT we would
>be. Industry might find more solutions from educators if these types of
>bridges were built.
>
>Good luck MSOE!
>
>
>Elaine
>
>
>
>*******************************************************************
>Opinions, suggestions, and other controversial matter VOID where
prohibited.
>******************************************************************
>Elaine T. Hunt, Director elaine.hunt@ces.clemson.edu
>Clemson University Laboratory to Advance Industrial Prototyping
>206 Fluor Daniel Bldg. Clemson, SC 29643-0925
>864-656-0321 (voice) 864-656-4435 (fax)
>http://rafiki.vr.clemson.edu/credo/persall/persall.html
>http://www.vr.clemson.edu/rp/
>http://www.vr.clemson.edu/credo/rp.html
>
>
>
>
>
>For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:53:12 EEST