Last year the USPTO announced the award of $4 million in fy 2009 grants to advise developing couintries on intellectual property policies. The first set of grants were done under Arti Rai, then Administrator for External Affairs at USTPO. The grants went to a variety on pro-right owner groups, including those associated with Newt Gingrich and the Tea Party, and several supported by firms like Pfizer and Microsoft. Seven of the groups receiving the fy 2009 have in common the fact they received funding from either Microsoft or the Gates Foundation.
See: Your tax dollars at work. Obama administration funding of pro-right holder NGO work on IPR protection, fy 2009, Sept 13, 2010.
Today the USPTO shared its fy 2010 grants for the same program. The biggest winners in the fy 2010 competition were Light Years IP, which received $1.26 million for its “education program in Ethiopia and Uganda,” and Bruce Lehman’s International Intellectual Property Institute, which received four grants totaling $1.58 million.
The list of grants follows:
USPTO International Intellectual Property Initiatives
Through Congressionally-mandated Appropriations
2010 JOINT PROJECT AGREEMENTS IN RESPONSE TO SOLICITATION DOC52PAPT1000017
| RECIPIENT NON-PROFIT | IP PROJECT TITLE | AGREEMENT NUMBER | AGREEMENT AMOUNT | |
| The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) | Comparative Study on Intellectual Property Management in Standard-Setting Organizations and in Government Mandated or Approved Standards | 2010-140-113 | $386,675 | |
| Kenan Foundation Asia | Update the Kenan Institute Asia-EPO Comparative Assessment Study of Patent Offices in Southeast Asia | 2010-140-114 | $75,792 | |
| University of California, Berkeley | The Implications of Patent Application Growth in China on the USPTO | 2010-140-115 | $371,478 | |
| Light Years IP | Implement a comprehensive education program in Ethiopia and Uganda | 2010-140-116 | $1,261,463 | |
| California Western School of Law | Roundtable Program and Study on the Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in IPR Litigation | 2010-140-117 | $106,125 | |
| Widener University | Joint Project on the Connection Between Counterfeit Hard Good and Public Health and Safety | 2010-140-118 | $115,630 | |
| National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) | Conference and Journal Publication on IP Standards | 11143040-0000-000 | $122,000 | |
| International Intellectual Property Institute | Study of the Connection between Unauthorized Cam-cording of Cinematographic Works and Internet or Optical Media Piracy | 2010-140-120 | $254,770 | |
| Study on Connections Between Governmental Technical Assistance and Capacity Building in Foreign Markets and the Growth of Exports | 2010-140-121 | $443,058 | ||
| Study on the Economic Impact of "TRIPS plus" Free Trade Agreements on IP Enforcement | 2010-140-122 | $396,298 | ||
| Study and Update of the 2005 International Bar Association Survey on Specialized IPR Courts and Subsequent Seminar | 2010-140-112 | $486,029 | ||