Policies/Guidelines and Process
  • The U.S. Bayh Doyle Act deals with intellectual property arising from federal government-funded research and addresses ownership of inventions made with federal funding.  The Act, permits an academic institution to elect to pursue ownership of an invention in preference to the government.
  • Acceptance of donated IP
  • Management of IP
  • Faculty Consulting Agreements
  • Student IP – Faculty Guidance
  • Student IP
  • IP from Company Sponsored Research (PDF)
  • Process:
    1. Research/Discovery
    2. Pre-Disclosure to Office of Technology Management
    3. Invention Disclosure
    4. Assessment by Technology Licensing Officer and patent Review committee.
    5. Protection of invention
    6. Marketing
      • Form a startup business for new technology
      • Commercialize through an existing business
    7. Licensing to business partner
    8. Commercialization
    9. Licensing revenue distribution
  • See staff in our office to discuss any of the above steps

Protect Your Invention

  • Definitions:
    • Invention disclosures An Invention Disclosure is a written description of your invention or development. The Invention Disclosure should list all sponsors of the research and include all of the information necessary to begin pursuing protection, marketing, and commercialization activities.
    • Public Disclosures: This is any instance in which someone outside the Penn State community, without being restricted by confidentiality, would have been able to legally gain access to your presented, written or printed enabling description of the technology/invention.  An inventor who publicly discloses his/her invention before obtaining protection (filing an invention disclosure first) can lose rights to his/her invention anywhere else in the world. In the United States, a patent application must be filed within one (1) calendar year of first public disclosure; however, in most other countries, a patent application must be filed before any public disclosure.
    • What can be patented: Patentable subject matter includes processes, machines, compositions of matter, articles, some computer programs, and methods (including methods of making compositions, methods of making articles, and even methods of performing business).
    • Provisional Patent: In certain circumstances, U.S. provisional patent applications can provide a tool for preserving patent rights while temporarily reducing costs and providing extra time to prepare a regular application.
    • Patents: A patent gives the owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, and importing any patented invention.
    • License: A license is permission granted by the owner of intellectual property that allows another party to use the invention or IP under all or some of the owner’s rights, usually under a written license agreement.
  • Intellectual Property Forms

Technology-based Economic Development

  • Ben Franklin Technology Partners provides early-stage, technology-based firms and established manufacturers with funding, business and technical expertise, and access to a network of innovative, expert resources through:
    • Capital investment and fund-raising strategies
    • Business plan reviews
    • Technical assessments
    • Intellectual property counsel
    • Marketing and operations advice
    • Networks:
      • Entrepreneurs
      • Angel investors and venture capitalists
      • Business incubators and university-based centers of excellence
      • State, regional and local business assistance and economic development organizations
      • University, corporate and federal research labs
  • Innovation Transfer Network connects businesses to faculty and students at institutions of higher education in Central PA to stimulate applied research, leverage innovation in the marketplace, and accelerate commercialization of technology through:
    • Collaborations
    • Intellectual property assistance
    • Seed assistance grants
    • Assistance with grant applications