COURT TO DECIDE ON ISSUE OF UNIVERSITY PATENTS
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is questioning whether patents on inventions that arise from federally funded research must go to the university where the inventor worked.

The court heard arguments Monday from lawyers from Stanford University, which wants the patents to technology for detecting HIV levels in a patient’s blood.

The university said it owns the technology because its discoverer worked at Stanford. The 1980 Bayh-Dole Act allows universities to retain the rights to research funded by federal grants.

But pharmaceutical giant Roche says Stanford researcher Mark Holodniy also signed a contract that gave the company the patent to anything that resulted from their collaboration. A federal appeals court made Roche and Stanford co-owners.

The justices will make a decision by June.

CATHOLIC COLLEGE FIRES GAY PART-TIME PROFESSOR
PHILADELPHIA — A Catholic college in Philadelphia says it has fired a part-time professor after learning from a post on his blog that he has been in a same-sex relationship for a decade and a half, which officials called contrary to church teaching.

Chestnut Hill College, a private Catholic school, said the Rev. James St. George was terminated after he made “public statements of his involvement in a gay relationship with another man for the past 15 years.”

St. George. 45, of Lansdale, was hired by the private Catholic school in 2009 to teach Bible studies and other subjects. He was to teach courses in theology and justice as well as world religions beginning Tuesday.

St. George confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer on Saturday that he is gay and recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of his relationship with his partner.

He said he was shocked by the termination, which he learned about Feb. 18.

— The Associated Press