Obtaining patent protection for employee-generated inventions can be tricky for organizations large and small. Employee-inventors must first be able to recognize that they have a potentially patentable idea, and then they must disclose that idea to the organization. That disclosure typically takes place using an invention disclosure form. Once the invention has been disclosed to the organization by the inventor, the organization must then determine whether the idea should be the subject of a patent application. To complicate matters, it may be desirable for this process to proceed quickly, as recent changes to U.S. patent law may eliminate many of protections previously provided to patent applicants when there were delays in the filing of the patent application. This article discusses these issues and offers suggestions on how to turn ideas into patents.
Encouraging Employee-Inventors to Disclose Their Inventions
Employee-inventors may be resistant to requests to provide invention disclosures, either because they are unfamiliar with or uninterested in the patent process, or because they are simply too busy. In some cases, it may be the responsibility of in-house patent counsel or the technology transfer office to encourage invention disclosure by inventors.
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