TT Tip: Record Keeping/Laboratory Notebooks

Why is a laboratory notebook so important?

A well-documented record of the development of an invention is critical for preserving a company’s (or a laboratory’s) intellectual property rights to its inventions and know-how. For a LANL scientist, the lab notebook is one of the most important elements of the patent process. It is the official record of your technical work (calculations, experiments, ideas, etc.) including any inventions. It establishes the dates and times when you worked on the development of the invention and shows the progress from conception through reduction to practice. It is the primary evidence of the conception and development of an invention that may be crucial in establishing intellectual property rights.

What are the guidelines for keeping a laboratory notebook?

R -	*Record all* laboratory information** in a bound notebook [e.g., JIT #P3ARB810N15 (150 pages) or #P3ARB81N30 (350 pages)] using indelible ink. Use each page of the notebook. If blank spaces must be left, draw a line diagonally through the blank space, and sign and date. Record everything. State your hypothesis, materials and methods, data and conclusions. Tape all labels and other materials into the laboratory notebook. (Classified information must be maintained in a separate notebook and protected following standard procedures for classified information.)
E -	Each entry must be signed and dated by the person doing the work. Legal rules of evidence apply. (There are no other rules except "legal" ones.) Your reputation, career and inventions rest on your written documentation.
C -	Corroborate all entries by an additional, knowledgeable party (e.g., the Principal Investigator) who reads, co-signs, and dates all entries.
O -	Original entries should never be erased. If a mistake is made, draw a single or double line through the mistake and sign and date the correction in ink.
R -	Review and retain all records. Records should be safely retained as long as necessary. For example, invention records should be retained for a minimum of 30 years. Review is important to analyze research progress, evaluate the lab technician's or graduate student's performance, discover trends in the data, and spark the imagination of invention.
D -	Data generated or stored on a computer must be printed out, permanently bound, signed and dated, and corroborated.*

What are the guidelines for supervision and retention of laboratory notebooks?

Every technician, technical staff member, or graduate student should have his or her own laboratory notebook, maintained under the supervision of the project PI. A researcher should have a different notebook for each project.

The notebook is the property of the U.S. Government. If you terminate employment with LANL, you must turn your notebooks over to your group office or send them to IRM-RMMSO, Records Management/Media Services & Operations (MS C322, 665-7039).

All employees, appointees, and affiliates of Los Alamos National Laboratory are required to disclose all inventions to the Laboratory’s Technology Transfer Division (ideas.lanl.gov).

*Electronic Notebooks

The Laboratory Counsel does not recommend use of an electronic version of the lab notebook because it does not form an adequate legal record. The US Patent & Trademarks office has not yet accepted electronic or scanned signatures for lab notebooks. If you plan to keep an electronic notebook, follow these procedures:

Pre-number each page electronically;
Periodically print pages as you enter information about your invention;
Tape each page into a bound notebook; and
Make sure each page is signed and dated in blue ink by you and a witness.

For More Information

If you need additional information regarding the lab notebook, please contact Legal Counsel (LC-Intellectual Property) at 7-3302, or the Technology Transfer Division at 5-9090. For more detailed information visit: Lab Notebooks.

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Technology Transfer, TT

TT Tip: Record Keeping/Laboratory Notebooks