Commerce Department Threatens to Take Ownership of Harvard Patents

The university holds more than 5,800 patents and has more than 900 active technology licenses with various industry partners.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on July 4, 2025. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

The federal government is looking into Harvard University’s patent rights, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an Aug. 8 letter to Harvard President Alan Garber.

The Department of Commerce is initiating a “march-in” process under the Bayh-Dole Act, a federal patent policy allowing recipients of federal funds to retain patent rights over their inventions made with federal funding.