Remembering Professor Ted Hagelin

Professor Ted Hagelin, founder and Director of the Technology Commercialization Law Program at Syracuse University College of Law; Director of the New York State Science and Technology Law Center; Crandall Melvin Professor of Law; and Kauffman Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, passed away Saturday, May 18, 2013.

Professor Hagelin was an expert in technology innovation law with a passion for sharing that expertise with others. He graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and obtained his J.D. from Temple University Law School. He earned an LL.M. degree from Harvard University and practiced corporate/commercial law with Dechert, Price and Rhodes (now Dechert) in Philadelphia.

He began teaching at the University of Cincinnati Law School before joining the Syracuse College of Law faculty in 1978. In 1990, he founded the Law, Technology, and Management certificate program (now Technology Commercialization Law Program) to integrate the study of intellectual property and business law with an understanding of markets, financing and technology. He believed strongly that lawyers needed a broad understanding to effectively participate in furthering technology invention and innovation.

In an interview last fall with WRVO’s Ryan Delaney, Professor Hagelin explained, “The reality is today, that business people don’t like lawyers because they’re always messing the deal, scientists and engineers don’t like lawyers,” he said. “We’re really trying to develop a new generation of lawyers that add value to the technology commercialization process, don’t subtract from that process.”

Professor Hagelin founded and directed a summer law program in Hong Kong, Technology Transfers in China, from 1995 to 1998. This unique program was hosted by City University of Hong Kong and focused on Chinese intellectual property, licensing and business law. Designed for Syracuse University College of Law Students, the program included classes at City University and on-site briefings at law firms, companies and government offices in Hong Kong as well as trips to China’s Special Economic Zones.

In 2004, the Syracuse University College of Law was selected as the New York State Science and Technology Law Center in a peer reviewed competition with Professor Hagelin serving as Director. He supervised over 120 research projects on the commercial development of early-stage technologies that originated in universities, federal research laboratories, technology development organizations, and large, medium, small and start-up companies across the state. He also researched and authored reports on various intellectual property policies as well as model licensing and negotiation policies for New York State. 

The Task Force on Diversifying the New York State Economy through Industry-Higher Education Partnerships, established under Governor David Paterson, cited and highlighted the work Professor Hagelin was doing at the Center in their December 2009 Final Report. They recommended that his established model of academic credit-for-service be adopted by other colleges and universities to facilitate the growth of New York State’s economy.

Professor Hagelin was a member of the New York State Bar, the Pennsylvania State Bar, the Licensing Executive Society, the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Association of University Technology Managers. He authored multiple law review articles on technology commercialization and intellectual property issues including: The Unintended Consequences of Stanford v. Roche, 39 AIPLA Q.J. 335 (2011); The Experimental Use Exemption to Patent Infringement: Information on Ice, Competition on Hold, 58 Fla. L. Rev. 483 (2006); Valuation of Patent Licenses, 12 Tex. Intell. Prop. L. J. 423 (2004) (cited in Uniloc v. Microsoft, 632 F.3d 1292, 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2011); Competitive Advantage Valuation of Intellectual Property Assets: A New Tool for IP Managers, 44 IDEA 79 (2003); A New Method to Value Intellectual Property, 30 AIPLA Q.J. 353 (2002) reprinted in 35 Intell. Prop. L. Rev. 601 (2003); Valuation of Intellectual Property Assets: An Overview, 52 Syracuse L. Rev. 1133 (2002) reprinted in Richard S. Gruner Et al., Intellectual Property in Business Organizations: Cases and Materials 25 (2006). In March of 2012, he was ranked in the Top 3% of authors with Social Science Research Network (SSRN) downloads. He organized multiple conferences and presented at even more.

Professor Hagelin held two patents of his own on methods for valuing intellectual property. In addition, he recently published a casebook, Technology Innovation Law and Practice (LexisNexis, 2012).

Above all else, Ted Hagelin was a very devoted teacher. He was extremely proud of his students and enjoyed following their success after graduation. He contributed immensely to the field of technology commercialization and intellectual property law. He was a thoughtful and supportive colleague whose presence will be missed just as sorely as his knowledge and insight. The SU College of Law has set up a memory page for Professor Hagelin that can be found here.

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