ABSTRACT
In the debate over patent policy during the 1930s, the proponents of the assumption of an entrepreneurial role by MIT in its relations with industry clashed with those who wanted the Institute to adhere to the traditions of financially disinterested research. The MIT administration’s program to promote an economic role for the Institute met with internal resistance. The Institute’s announcement of its intention to acquire patents on the discoveries made by its academic staff led some of the latter to ask whether, even if patents could profitably be licensed, that would not impugn academic claims to objectivity and disinterestedness.
