Newswise — The University of Tulsa has sold U.S. Patent No. 6,732,180 to Overpeer, Inc., a leading provider of anti-piracy services to major record labels, film studios, game publishers and software companies.
The patent defines a system for closely imitating digital media files on peer-to-peer networks. The technology covered by this patent can impair the ability of peer-to-peer users from illegitimately acquiring copyrighted files.
The patent was awarded just last year to TU computer science professors John Hale and Gavin W. Manes.
Overpeer is a subsidiary of Seattle-based Loudeye Corp., the worldwide leader in business-to-business digital media solutions. Overpeer general manager Marc Morgenstern said the addition of the TU technology "to our patent portfolio and anti-piracy solutions strengthens our position in the marketplace."
This is the first time The University of Tulsa has sold a patent, and the sale marks a major step for the university into the technology transfer field.
The sale was facilitated by the university board's new Technology Transfer Committee. The committee's next goal is to market another patented TU technology, awarded in 2003 for a process that manipulates materials on the molecular scale and allows the manufacture of nanobatteries, batteries so small that 240 of them could fit in the diameter of a human hair. Such batteries will be needed to power ever-tinier devices, such as sensors in the blood stream to detect areas of stress or damaged cells.
"One of a university's primary goals is the creation and sharing of knowledge," says TU President Steadman Upham. "Technology transfer helps us meet that goal, which quickly and directly benefits our nation's economy."
Upham notes that funding for TU research has doubled in the last 10 years, resulting in significant discoveries with potential for commercialization. Intellectual property created by faculty and students is owned by the university, but TU shares the net revenues generated by those ideas. Terms of the agreement with Overpeer do not allow TU to reveal the value of the sale.
The University of Tulsa is a private institution in Tulsa, Okla., that is ranked among the top 100 national doctoral universities by U.S. News & World Report.
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