The mission of the UNT Health Science Center Technology Transfer & Commercialization Office is, by acting as a service provider, to assist UNTHSC, its researchers, and its community partners with the development and promotion of biomedical innovations. |
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The Laboratory Notebook: Critical for Filing a Successful PatentA well-kept laboratory notebook is a vital part of productive research, both in academia and industry. In the academic setting, notebooks are owned by the University. This property right is created by the fact that one is employed and paid by the University. Tenure, external funding, and student status do not vitiate this rule.
About inventions, Dr. Flores suggests that, “There are three great places to look for patents: surprising and unexpected results, synergy, and for solutions to an existing problem.” He also counsels researchers to expand their thinking to include alternative applications for their inventions. While an invention may be a “failure for the original intended purpose”, it may have great potential for a secondary, unanticipated function.
Dr. Flores urges researchers to work closely with the university technology transfer office and the attorney assigned to file and prosecute their patent application. He also recommends that researchers provide timely answers to any questions that arise. “Procrastination,” says Dr. Flores, “increases the cost and decreases the quality of a patent application.” Meanwhile, it is critical that researchers avoid the premature public disclosure of an invention via any medium - printed, oral, or virtual. A lab meeting is not a public forum, but a dissertation defense or a national scientific meeting is. Another consideration is whether or not the public disclosure is enabling i.e., enough details are provided, in any medium, for a competitor to reproduce the work. Public disclosure precludes foreign patent rights. In the United States, a patent may be filed with the US Patent & Trademark Office up to a year after initial public disclosure. |