Intellectual Property Protection

What can be patented?

Your work is patentable if it meets 5 criteria:

Patentable Subject Matter: Process, machine, article of manufacture, composition of matter, improvement of any of these.

What is not Patentable: Laws of nature, physical phenomena, Abstract ideas, Literary (dramatic, musical, and artistic works), those inventions that are useful or offensive to the public.

Utility: What is the purpose of your innovation? Do you, as the inventor, still need to find its function? Before applying for a patent your innovation requires a use, function, or purpose. It can not be determined, or researched...

What is a patent?

A patent protects novel ideas for useful products and methods.

A patent is a property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.

The...

What is an invention?

An invention is a development that is a new, useful, and unobvious process, machine, algorithm, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.

In general, an invention is a form of intellectual property that is, or may be patentable under Title 35 of the United States Code (the so-called patent statute).

What if the University is not interested in or does not own the invention?

If the University determines that it does not own an invention (such as when it was made outside of university duties and with only de minimus use of university facilities post-docs, research staff, or students employed by the university; and without use of gift, grant or funding in contracts received through the university), or concludes that it is not interested in patenting and licensing an invention, then the invention must be offered to the sponsor of the research (often the U.S. government). If no sponsor obligations exist then the OTL may waive title to...

What happens to my disclosure after it is submitted?

Rights management: After a disclosure is received by the OTL, federal and other sponsors of the research program that led to the invention are notified (as is required by law), and the disclosure is assigned to a member of the licensing staff. That individual becomes the primary contact person for the inventor and manages the processes of: (a) determining the invention's ownership, third party rights and obligations, (b) evaluating the invention's commercial and patent/copyright potential, (c) assessing licensing prospects, and (d) prosecuting patents.

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