University of Penn Sues Sloan-Kettering

The university of Pennsylvania is Suing Dr. Craig B. Thompson, the head of Sloan-Kettering cancer research for stealing research information and starting his own company from the cancer research wing at UPenn. The statement is: "Dr. Thompson violated the university’s patent policy and the terms of his employment “by failing to disclose to the university research and discoveries that he instead provided to a for-profit corporation and ultimately publicly disclosed in international journal publications, both to the detriment of the university.”. The research was published in 2009 and 2010 and before they were Thompson's start up company Agios Pharmaceuticals had patented the invention. The damage is recorded at $100 million and could exceed $1 Billion in revenue for the school.

In class we have talked about business ethics and moral responsibility. We have also discussed patents and legal documents regarding inventions and products.

More information can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/business/dr-craig-b-thompson-head-of-sloan-kettering-is-sued.html?ref=todayspaper