Exclusive: U.S. should take a chunk of universities' patent revenue, Lutnick says

"The administration has spent months pressuring colleges over admissions, DEI policies and antisemitism. Multiple university leaders have resigned; other schools have paid huge settlements. The next step, Lutnick says, is to guarantee the U.S. gets a share of the upside from intellectual property that scientists at those schools develop with taxpayer dollars. Zoom in: Some of the Trump administration's deals with the private sector - a 10% stake in Intel, 15% of Nvidia's AI chip revenue in China, a "golden share" in U.S. Steel - are a stark departure from Republican orthodoxy."

""I think universities, who are getting all this money. The scientists get the patents, the universities get the patents and the funder of $50 billion, the U.S. government, you know what we get? Zero.""

""In business," he continued, "if I gave them 100% of their money, I would get half the profits, with the scientists. So I think if we fund it and they invent a patent, the United States of America taxpayer should get half the benefit.""

Administration officials have pressured colleges over admissions, DEI policies and antisemitism, prompting resignations and large settlements at some universities. Commerce official Lutnick seeks to secure a government share of upside from patents developed by scientists using taxpayer-funded research, proposing benefit-sharing agreements with universities that could start with Harvard and the University of California system. Lutnick cites recent deals that granted the U.S. stakes or revenue shares from private firms. Lutnick argues that taxpayers who fund research deserve substantial returns and suggests the United States should receive roughly half the benefits from resulting patents, which he says could help fund Social Security and reduce deficits.

Read at Axios