Ethics of patents for research work funded by tax money My academic research supervisor is asking me to write a patent that he is self-funding, with potential private commercial interests and benefits. I am also directly involved in the work that is related to this patent. However, this work was funded by my supervisor's research grants from our country.

Upon me questioning his motives, he told me that researchers have a right to the intellectual property of projects funded by the government.
Is such a claim regarding patents and/or intellectual property generally considered as ethical in academia?
It is certainly true that some research funded by some grants in some universities in some countries can be patented. The university should have an intellectual property policy (and the funded may have one). That's the document that will tell you the answer to this question. That policy should also give you some idea about appropriate sharing of the rights between the researchers involved in the project (it's not clear from your question whether you were involved in the research supporting the patent application). And there is possibly a commercialisation group within the university who would be involved in patent applications too.