The management of the role of patent attorneys during university patenting: An exploratory study from university professors´ perspective in the biotechnology sector in Taiwan

University patents are important to the success of university-industry collaboration and university entrepreneurship. Their production seems to be associated with gaining patent knowledge properly, mostly supplied by patent attorneys. The issue related to the ways used by university professors to act with patent attorneys has become important to university patenting. By interviewing seven university inventors, it showed that patent attorneys is involved either in the application stage or the application and analysis stages, in terms of the processes of patent management. Moreover, such involvement may be driven by the experiences and, particularly purposes, of patenting.