#4–interesting, and works against my ham-handed biases (so, kudos!). I work in a University Tech Transfer office, and I’m curious who was paying patent costs for professors before, when the university had no stake in the outcome. At most US schools, the TTO pays all patent costs for professors, then cuts them in IF a deal gets done. This sort of speculative investment seems beyond the means (or at least should be) of a professor’s salary (or time out of the lab to raise funds), as costs can run into the $100K+ range. If the universities were paying costs and not taking any of the upside, that is generous, indeed.