UT Southwestern has been actively protecting and licensing intellectual property for over 25 years.  Invention disclosures have risen from only one or two per year in the 1970's to over 100 per year in recent years.  Intellectual properties developed at UT Southwestern are managed by The Office for Technology Development and all  primarily in the fields of biotechnology, medical devices, and software.  Approximately 465 U.S. patents in a wide variety of scientific disciplines have issued naming UT Southwestern inventors.

UT Southwestern has negotiated over 510 license agreements for a variety of patented and non-patented technologies, including 35 during fiscal year 2009.  Copyrighted materials, such as software and videotapes, have also been licensed.  Licensees represent a wide spectrum of large and small companies, both domestic and foreign.

UT Southwestern also holds equity interests in a number of start-up companies established on platform technologies licensed from UT Southwestern.

License income is shown in the following chart; green columns indicating revenues generated by the Office for Technology Development.