Patents

Scope

Identifies responsible units that can assist faculty and other employees with intellectual property matters including, without limitation, disclosing inventions to the University for patent protection consideration.

Reason for Policy

To identify the appropriate office to contact for patent related questions.

Policy Statement

Each campus of the University of Missouri System has a technology transfer office (TTO) that serves as the focal point for technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, business development, and economic development. Each office works to identify, assess, protect and market commercially viable intellectual property developed at the University of Missouri and promotes economic development by facilitating the commercialization of intellectual property through a variety of innovative mechanisms.

The TTO can assist the faculty in, among other things, identifying potentially patentable and commercially viable findings, the filing of invention reports of such findings, and the steps to be taken to establish record of conception, disclosures, and publication restrictions. Faculty can contact their campus TTO to obtain information on disclosing inventions to the university and working with the office to evaluate the technical and commercial potential of the invention.

Contact information for each campus technology transfer office can be found at:

www.umsystem.edu/ums/aa/oipa/campus_offices.

The University’s patent policy is promulgated in Section 100.020 of the Collected Rules & Regulations.

Definitions

Accountabilities

The campus technology transfer offices are responsible for providing direction on intellectual property protection, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, business development, and economic development related matters on their respective campus.

Additional Details

Forms

Related Information

Collected Rules and Regulations on Patents and Plant Variety Regulations: https://umsystem.edu/ums/rules/collected_rules/business/ch100/100.020_patent_and_plant_variety_regulations

History

Formerly Business Policy Manual 103 – Patents (revised 7/1/2015).

Procedure