Disclose an Invention

Faculty and Staff are required to file an invention disclosure form under their employment agreement and UNT Policy 08.003. Oftentimes, the terms of a sponsored research project will also require the disclosure of inventions so the sponsor can be informed.

Ideally, the disclosure should occur before the work is published or any other public disclosure of the work is made. Not disclosing before you make the work public will affect the scope of any patent filed covering the disclosure. When you file an invention disclosure with RCA, please inform the office if you have already or expect to soon discuss your invention publicly.

If you have any questions about submitting your invention disclosure, please email patents@unt.edu.

process flow for innovation and commercialization starting with invention disclosure then assessment then commercialization and planning then commercialized with license or startup

Innovation & Commercialization Process

Submitting an Invention Disclosure to the I&C Office initiates the formal process of protecting and commercializing Intellectual Property conceived at UNT. Submitting an Invention Disclosure to the I&C Office is not a public disclosure, and inventors are encouraged to submit an Invention Disclosure as soon as possible after conceiving their invention to allow for protection against other unintended public disclosures. After submitting an Invention Disclosure, an inventor should receive an acknowledgement from the I&C Office within 3 days.

The I&C Office assesses the commercial potential of each invention, considering the ability to protect Intellectual Property (usually with a patent), how well the invention enables a valuable solution to a market need, and size of the addressable market for the solution enabled by the invention. An inventor should receive their first assessment report from the I&C Office approximately 3 weeks after acknowledgement of submitting the Invention Disclosure.

During the commercialization process there may be periods of time when the project is not being actively worked by the I&C Office, even though the office believes it has sufficient commercial potential. For example, if the PI is doing additional development of the invention to demonstrate results relevant to a potential commercialization partner, or waiting for the USPTO to provide an office action to understand likely patent claims. The I&C Office will designate such projects as Abeyant to indicate that the I&C Office is not actively working the project, but is expecting the project to become active in the future.

When the I&C Office concludes that a project does not have sufficient commercial potential, they will close the project. If the inventor(s) still desire to pursue commercialization, the inventor(s) may request the rights for the invention.

Following an assessment that the project has sufficient commercialization potential, the I&C Office will work with the inventor(s) to build a plan to commercialize the project. This work likely will include patenting, demonstrating proof-of-concept, and marketing, and will include a recommendation to commercialize by licensing to an existing company or starting a new company.

UNT commercializes projects by collaborating with a partner who will bring the project to market. Based on the Commercialization Plan for the project, the partner might be an existing company, or sometimes a new company will be formed specifically to commercialize the project. In both cases, the I&C Office will execute a license for UNT’s IP rights to the partner, and then work with the partner to assist in achieving the best commercialization results.

Note:

Invention Disclosure should be submitted no less than one (1) month prior to any public disclosure to allow enough time for assessment and patent protection
The submission of an Invention Disclosure does not mean the invention has any protection

External Educational Resources

Inventor's Hub - A resource for researchers, inventors, and/or creators to learn about Intellectual Property and Commercialization