UC Patent Acknowledgement

UC Berkeley employees and others who intend to use UC research and development facilities or funds under the control of the university, must sign the UC Patent Acknowledgement contract, obligating you to comply with UC intellectual property (IP) policy.

The Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) can help answer your questions about UC IP policy.

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Who is required to sign the Patent Acknowledgement?

Every UC employee is required to sign the Patent Acknowledgement as a condition of employment.

A person not employed by UC must sign the Patent Acknowledgement before:

1. Using UC Berkeley research facilities. This includes visiting scientists and other non-UC Berkeley employees, or

2. Receiving gift, grant, or contract research funds through UC.

What do I agree to by signing the Patent Acknowledgement?

Signing the Patent Acknowledgment obligates you to:

1. Promptly disclose all inventions (as defined in the UC Policy), in writing, to the UC Berkeley Office of Technology Licensing

2. Assign ownership of IP rights to UC for inventions developed by you and owned by UC in accordance with UC IP policy.

3. Acknowledge that you are responsible for ensuring that any employment or consulting agreements you enter into with third parties do not conflict with your preexisting and ongoing...

How do UC Berkeley employees confirm whether they signed the Patent Acknowledgement?

If you are a UC Berkeley employee, you signed a Patent Acknowledgement as a condition of employment. Employees can review the Patent Acknowledgement by logging into UCPATH. In the Dashboard, navigate to Employee Actions > Personal Information > Patent Acknowledgement.

Employees hired before July 1, 2024, signed an older version of the Patent...

I developed an invention in the performance of activities outside of my employment with the university (such as under a consulting agreement with a company). Am I required to disclose the invention to the UC Berkeley Office of Technology Licensing?

Yes. Report inventions created outside of the scope of your UC employment to the UC Berkeley Office of Technology Licensing using the Invention Disclaimer Request Form, omitting any proprietary information. Based on your request, OTL will ask your department leadership for the release of the invention.

How do visiting researchers, who are not UC employees, submit a signed Patent Acknowledgement, or confirm whether they’ve signed it?

Anyone conducting research at UC Berkeley who is not employed by UC must sign the Patent Acknowledgement prior to admittance to a program or lab and commencing research. This includes: undergraduate students, Visiting Scholars, Visiting Student Researchers, Visiting Industrial Fellows, Affiliates, and Volunteers.

To submit a signed UC Patent Acknowledgement, the UC Berkeley host should connect the visitor to their HR Business Partner, as identified by Berkeley...

Visiting Industrial Fellows

Learn more about hosting, being, or approving a visiting industrial fellow

IPIRA Concierge

For more information, contact us