Bench to Community Seminar - Series 1, Session 3: Invention Disclosures, Patent Process, and Licensing

This 3rd course in our series, attendees will understand the importance of securing intellectual property (IP) rights to support the translation of medical devices to the market. Session topics will explore how intellectual property rights support the commercialization process, the types of intellectual property most commonly encountered in university environments, best practices for disclosing your invention to a technology transfer office, how technology transfer offices evaluate and manage inventions, the requirements of and process for securing IP rights, and generating value from IP.

Topics Include:

• Basis for intellectual property rights
• Types of intellectual property protection available
• Requirements to secure copyright, and the copyright process
• Requirements to secure patents, the patent prosecution process, and timeline
• Elements of an effective invention disclosure
• Preventing premature public disclosure
• The elements of a license and interplay with sponsored research
• IP valuation, and how inventors increase the value of IP (maturation)
• The VCU IP policy: royalty distribution model, inventorship vs. contribution, and outside collaborations