CS 190 Computer Science Design Project

A. Klinger Spring 1998 Boelter 5273

27 Apr 1998 18:03:17 PDT

To: "'klinger@cs.ucla.edu'" <klinger@CS.UCLA.EDU>

From: "Hutchinson, Daniel" <DHUTCHIN@rnet.ucla.edu> Subject: FW: Patents

All university employees, faculty as well as staff, are required to sign a patent agreement assigning all inventions and patents to the university, except those resulting from permissible consulting activities that do not use University facilities. Students are required to sign the Patent Agreement only if they are employed by the University, receive contract or grant funds through the University, or are engaged in a sponsored research project. Persons who are not University employees, but who use University research facilities or who receive gift, grant or contract funds through the University also are required to sign this agrreement.Researchers who are visiting from outside companies or other research institutions may fall into this category.

...

Anyone who is subject to the Patent Agreement also agrees to disclose any inventions to the appropriate University representative. Here at UCLA that would mean communicating the ideas and the documentation to a Technology Transfer Officer in the Sponsored Research Office. The names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of the Technology Transfer Officers are regularly updated in the UCLA Research Home Page ( http://www.research.ucla.edu 1). An invention disclosure form can be obtained by mail or can be faxed to you by contacting the Technology Transfer Officer.

Invention disclosures may be communicated either by making an appointment with a Technology Transfer Officer to discuss the ideas, or by sending a copy of the disclosure to the Technology Transfer Officer, with a request to carry out a patentability search. The former is preferred because the Technology Transfer Officer will be able to explore the ideas with the inventor in greater depth than by simply reading the material.

... If you would like any other information, please call .. 65151 or email me. You may also want to check our .. online summary on intellectual property .. by Vice Chancellor Patel. .. address is

http://www.research.ucla.edu/ck/venture/ROPESa.htm#IVc 2

.. Dan Hutchinson, Director, Strategic Research Initiatives

Excerpts from 2 by Vice Chancellor Kumar Patel

Patents ... fundamental tenet ... giving the inventor or her/his assignee absolute ownership of the intellectual property for a finite period of time ... must examine all the prior "art" in that field ... inventor must be able to prove non-obviousness of the advance. Further, a patent must teach those versed in the prior art how to reproduce and benefit from the idea. Thus, a patent is in some sense more restrictive form of publication. .... A patent gives to the patent holder the right to prevent others from using, selling, or otherwise benefiting from her/his invention without a binding contract for the duration of the life of the patent ... In the U.S.A. the initial time duration for patent protection is 20 years from the grant date of the patent. ... patents are important not only to industries but also to inventor(s)no matter where they may be located. ..(At) UCLA ... the inventor population includes the faculty, staff and students....

Do the research results include: ... New ways of solving or addressing a problem? ... Have new mathematical algorithms resulted from the research? ... If the answer to any of the above questions is affirmative, you are ready to take the next step. ... patentable ideas may result during the course of research, and one should not wait, necessarily, until just prior to the publication of a paper or the end of a project

When .. convinced your idea or result is patentable, document it in detail (in a retrievable notebook) and have this written material witnessed by a person who understands the broad details ... a co-inventor cannot serve as a witness. This .. documentation .. should be signed and dated by you (all the inventors) and .. the witness.

3-18-98 L A Times Article by L. Magid