The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case regarding university rights to faculty inventions at the urging of the Obama administration and a collection of research universities, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The case, Stanford v. Roche, began when Stanford University sued a company now owned by Roche Holding AG for the rights to a test used to determine the effectiveness of AIDS treatment, Bloomberg reported. The outcome of the case's hearing would clarify the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act's guarantee that intellectual property rights supersede all "side agreements between individuals and third parties," The Chronicle reported. The case could "pit universities and the federal government against companies" because the Obama administration is supporting Stanford's claim, according to Bloomberg.
A second-year law student at Ohio State University has been accused of stealing more than 1,351 law books listed on Amazon from the university's library, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The student allegedly received more than $10,000 for the stolen texts, the theft of which was undiscovered until a Brazilian lawyer who had purchased a volume online e-mailed the university to alert them that the book had a marked-over OSU stamp. Although improvements in security technology has made theft more difficult, it is a challenge for librarians to fully monitor collections that can number in the millions of volumes, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Twenty-eight colleges and universities signed a letter to President Barack Obama calling for the end of restrictions limiting foreign study programs in Cuba, according to a press release by NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The letter, which NAFSA published on its website, was signed by institutions including Duke University, American University and the University of Kansas, and argues that academic exchange programs play a key role in fostering positive relations between countries. The limits reduced the number of American students studying in Cuba from 2,100 in 2003 to 250 in the 2007-2008 academic year, the letter stated.