The intellectual property (IP) policy that underpins research performed by companies in Knowledge Park in partnership with Penn State is groundbreaking. It eliminates a key barrier to research engagement by allowing companies to own the IP from any research undertaken under their sponsorship.
Penn State has a simple process for assigning the ownership of intellectual property to a Sponsor. A critical part of the process is the clear and early identification and documentation of the intellectual property being assigned. Each of the following steps can be performed electronically, allowing the entire process to be completed quickly.
- The Principal Investigator (PI) prepares an Invention Disclosure to identify and describe the intellectual property developed and to identify the researchers who contributed to the development of the intellectual property. If a patent application is filed in the future, a patent attorney will determine if these researchers are also investors.
- The PI forwards the Invention Disclosure to his/her College Research Officer for the College’s records.
- The College Research Officer forwards the Invention Disclosure to the Office of Technology Management where it is a assigned to a Technology Licensing Officer.
- The Technology Licensing Officer/Office of Technology Management forwards the Invention Disclosure to the Sponsor and inquires if the Sponsor wants to take ownership of the intellectual property identified in the Invention Disclosure.
- If the Sponsor decides to take ownership of the intellectual property in the Invention Disclosure, a standard Assignment Agreement developed specifically for this purpose is executed on behalf of The Penn State Research Foundation and forwarded to the Sponsor.