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27-408: WARF was founded in 1925 to manage a discovery by Harry Steenbock , who invented the process for using ultraviolet radiation to add vitamin D to milk and other foods. Rather than leaving the invention un patented —then the standard practice for university inventions—Steenbock used $ 300 of his own money to file for a patent. He received commercial interest from Quaker Oats but declined

54-619: A reasonable royalty . In October 2015, a jury found Apple liable; however, the infringement was found inadvertent, and as such, the court reduced the payment to $ 234 million. However, in July 2017, the judge added an interest payment to this amount and increased the award to $ 506 million. On appeal, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the verdict of the lower court, and concluded that Apple did not infringe WARF 's patents. The SCOTUS denied WARF 's writ of certiorari , thus affirming

81-492: A new technology. A WARF spokesperson denied that the group acted as a non-practicing entity , explaining that "our whole purpose for being is to bring inventions from the university into the world into practical use." Nevertheless, some journalists noted that, instead of pursuing the goals of the Bayh–Dole Act to commercialize unused university patents, WARF often extorts patent licensing fees from businesses, who have been using

108-697: A substantial sum in verbal pledges from a number of alumni, nine of whom would eventually contribute $ 100 each. The UW Board of Regents approved the plan on June 22, 1925, and the organization's charter was filed with the Secretary of State of Wisconsin on November 14 that same year. The organization was named the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation to reflect both its governing body of five UW–Madison alumni and its mission to promote, encourage and aid scientific investigation and research at UW-Madison. Since its founding, WARF has helped steward

135-519: A variety of other entities including WiSys Technology Foundation, WiCell Research Institute and the Morgridge Institute for Research . From the early discoveries related to vitamin D and development of the blood thinner WARF arin to the derivation of stem cells and algorithms that speed computer processing, UW–Madison inventions have changed lives. In 1923, Harry Steenbock and James Cockwell discovered exposure to ultraviolet light increased

162-735: Is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. In 1999, Thomson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . He was on the cover of TIME magazine 's "America's Best in Science & Medicine" feature in 2001 for his work with human embryonic stem cells, and again in 2008 when the magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people for his derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells. In 2011, Thomson

189-477: Is named in his honor. James Thomson (cell biologist) James Alexander Thomson is an American developmental biologist best known for deriving the first human embryonic stem cell line in 1998 and for deriving human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) in 2007. Human embryonic stem cells [which are cells that reproduce over and over and over again until they eventually die. they are what other cells 'stem' from] can divide without limit, and yet maintain

216-579: The CAFC 's ruling. Harry Steenbock Harry Steenbock (August 16, 1886 – December 25, 1967) was a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison . Steenbock graduated from Wisconsin in 1916, where he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. Steenbock was born in Charlestown, Wisconsin , and grew up on a model farm outside New Holstein, Wisconsin . His graduate advisor at

243-732: The Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wisconsin, is a professor in the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a professor in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara . He is also a founder of Cellular Dynamics International , a Madison-based company producing derivatives of human induced pluripotent stem cells for drug discovery and toxicity testing. Thomson

270-637: The Oregon National Primate Research Center , and completed a residency in veterinary pathology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1991–1994). He joined the Wisconsin Regional (now National) Primate Research Center on campus as its chief pathologist in 1995. There, he became the first in the world to successfully isolate and culture nonhuman primate embryonic stem cells. This led to his human embryonic stem cell discovery in 1998. He serves as Director of Regenerative Biology at

297-581: The University of Pennsylvania , receiving his doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1985, and his doctorate in molecular biology in 1988. His doctoral thesis involved understanding genetic imprinting in early mammalian development under the mentorship of Davor Solter at the Wistar Institute . Thomson also spent two years (1989–91) as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Primate In Vitro Fertilization and Experimental Embryology Laboratory at

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324-515: The Quaker Oats company. The license permitted Quaker Oats to fortify its breakfast cereals with vitamin D. WARF went on to license the technology to pharmaceutical companies for a medical application, which was known as Viosterol . Steenbock died in Madison, Wisconsin on December 25, 1967. He was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery . The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Steenbock Memorial Library

351-403: The School of Agriculture and walked into a professor's laboratory with a milk can full of blood which would not coagulate. In his truck, he had also brought a dead heifer and some spoiled clover hay. He wanted to know what had killed his cow. In 1941, Karl Paul Link successfully isolated the anticoagulant factor, which initially found commercial application as a rodent -killer. Warfarin is one of

378-549: The University of Wisconsin–Madison, was Edwin B. Hart . His first publication reported the results of the single-grain experiment on which he assisted with Hart and Stephen Moulton Babcock . During his graduate career, Steenbock also served as an assistant in the lab of Elmer McCollum . When McCollum and another assistant Marguerite Davis published their discovery of what came to be called vitamin A , Steenbock thought he deserved more credit than he received. Steenbock carried on

405-610: The Vitamin D concentration in food. After discovering that irradiated rat food cured the rats of rickets , Steenbock sought a patent. Steenbock then assigned the patent to the newly established Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. WARF then licensed the technology to Quaker Oats for use in their breakfast cereals . In addition, WARF licensed the technology for use as a pharmaceutical, Viosterol . WARF's commercialization of Vitamin D culminated in its enrichment of milk. By

432-620: The Year” article, 1999. In spite of their great medical potential, however, human embryonic stem cells generated enormous controversy because their derivation involved the destruction of a human embryo. In 2007, Thomson's group (contemporaneously with Dr. Shinya Yamanaka ) reported a method for converting human skin cells into cells that very closely resemble human embryonic stem cells. Published in Science in late 2007 in an article titled "Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Somatic Cells",

459-516: The alleged technology, often long before the patent on this technology was filed, but who find, that it costs less to pay the extorted licensing fee than to go to court. In 2014, WARF filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. , alleging that the latter had infringed US 5781752   , "Table based data speculation circuit for parallel processing computer", a method of increasing the efficiency of integrated circuits on its Apple A7 and Apple A8 system-on-chip products, and asking for US$ 862 million as

486-653: The company's initial offer. Instead, Steenbock sought a way to protect discoveries made by UW-Madison faculty, ensure use of the ideas for public benefit and bring any financial gains back to the university. His concept gained support from Harry L. Russell, dean of the College of Agriculture, and Charles Sumner Slichter, dean of the Graduate School. Slichter began soliciting the interest and financial support of wealthy UW-Madison alumni acquaintances in Chicago and New York. He gained

513-544: The cycle of research, discovery, commercialization and investment for UW–Madison. Through its patenting and licensing efforts, WARF enables university innovations to advance from the lab to the marketplace. Each year, WARF contributes more than $ 70 million to fund additional UW–Madison research. The university refers to WARF's annual gifts as its "margin of excellence" funding. WARF currently licenses nearly 100 UW–Madison technologies each year. As of 2014, WARF had an endowment of $ 2.6 billion. WARF also works in partnership with

540-520: The money should be returned to the university. After soliciting interest from nine other University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni , Steenbock was influential in starting the first university technology transfer office, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). WARF's initial operating budget was $ 900, one hundred dollars from each of the nine alumni. On February 19, 1927, WARF completed its first licensing agreement with

567-554: The most widely prescribed medicines in the world, used in vascular and heart disease to prevent stroke and thrombosis . More recently, WARF was assigned the patents for non-human primate and human embryonic stem cells . The stem cells were first isolated and purified by James Thomson in 1998. WARF has also helped establish more than 60 startup companies including Imago, Mirus Bio , Nimblegen, Tomotherapy, Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, Quinntessence, Neoclone, Silatronix, Third Wave Technologies, Cambria Biosciences, and OpGen, Inc. WARF

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594-560: The potential to make all the cells of the body. This remarkable potential makes them useful for basic research on the function of the human body, for drug discovery and testing, and as a source of cells and tissues for transplantation medicine. In 1998, Thomson's Lab was the first to report the successful isolation of human embryonic stem cells. On November 6, 1998, Science published this research in an article titled "Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Blastocysts", results which Science later featured in its “Scientific Breakthrough of

621-498: The results garnered international attention for potentially ending the ethical controversy surrounding human embryonic stem cell research. Science later featured induced pluripotent stem cells in its “Scientific Breakthrough of the Year” article, 2008. Thomson graduated with a B.S. in biophysics from the University of Illinois in 1981. He entered the Veterinary Medical Scientist Training Program at

648-541: The time the patent expired in 1945, rickets was all but nonexistent. Through continued innovations from Hector DeLuca , vitamin D remains an important part of WARF's technology portfolio. Warfarin , also known as Coumadin, is named for WARF, and the story of its discovery is emblematic of the " Wisconsin Idea " and the relationship of the university to the Wisconsin public. In 1933 a farmer from Deer Park showed up unannounced at

675-517: The vitamin A work in Madison, after McCollum accepted an offer from Johns Hopkins University . In 1923, Steenbock demonstrated that irradiation by ultraviolet light increased the vitamin D content of foods and other organic materials. After irradiating rodent food, Steenbock discovered that the rodents were cured of rickets . It is now known that vitamin D deficiency is a cause of rickets . Using $ 300 of his own money, Steenbock patented his invention . Steenbock's irradiation technique

702-426: Was called a " patent troll " by Business Insider , which included WARF in a list of the "most fearsome" of them. The magazine noted that while many universities could be described as "patent trolls", WARF was singled out because of the large number of patents it held, and because of its aggressive practice of suing companies, who allegedly use the patented technology, instead of trying to find someone to commercialize

729-459: Was used for food stuffs, but most memorably for milk . By the expiration of the patent in 1945, rickets had all but been eliminated. After receiving his patent, the Quaker Oats company offered $ 1 million (approximately $ 10 million today) for Steenbock's vitamin D technology. Steenbock thought twice about the offer. Instead of quickly selling his rights to a commercial company, Steenbock believed

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