Research not for profit at University of Montana

"Typically the University pays the cost of finding commercial partners, but in my case they wished us luck and sent us off to pay for the license," DeGrandpre said.

He signed a contract that outlined how he could market his patent, but he needed to pay the licensing cost and forfeit his right to royalties. The contract also directs all profits to DeGrandpre’s business, not to him.

Inventions are a common by-product of scientific research, but conflict arises when University of Montana scientists profit from their academic work.

Besides the monetary conflict, researchers must also guard against working with students they teach. Because the University does not track every project, professors work under an honor system to tell the University about potential conflicts.But navigating the ethical quandaries has been worth it for some UM faculty members.

Mike DeGrandpre, a chemistry professor, had his first patented idea in 1999 and decided to market his intellectual property himself.

"I never pictured myself as a businessman," he said. "We had a solution to a problem. We just needed to find a market with the same problem."

By Tom Holm

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