Step 3 - Protecting Intellectual Property through Patents
Once OTD accepts your technology for patenting and licensing, the process of applying for a patent gets underway. You stand to gain in a variety of ways when you work with OTD to apply for a patent and pursue commercialization of intellectual property.
- OTD pays patent costs and legal fees for accepted disclosures.
- Patents are a legitimate and recognized form of publication.
- OTD helps guide you through the patenting process to file the best patent possible while reducing paperwork for you.
- OTD strives to negotiate contracts that work for both you and companies interested in licensing the technology.
- Commercializing an invention can provide income to you. Like most technology transfer organizations, OTD shares proceeds with inventors based upon income after direct IP costs (predominantly legal fees). That means no deductions are made from your distribution for office administration or other overhead costs.
- Your laboratories and departments also benefit from licensed inventions, as they receive a share of the distribution of net proceeds.
- Patenting is one method of translating your work into a product that will benefit society.
- Patents protect inventions and research from abuse or misuse.
Follow this link for a summary of the patent process. Additional, more detailed information is available at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site.
Inter-Institutional Agreements
Occasionally, some technologies disclosed to OTD were developed as a result of collaboration between a UNL researcher and a researcher at another institution. In order for a patent to be valid, all inventors must be named on the patent application. Some of these other inventors may have contractual agreements with their institutions or other employers concerning intellectual property rights. In such situations, OTD will arrange an Inter-Institutional Agreement with the other institution to permit clean licensing of the invention.
