9.04 University Patent Policy
9.04.1 Introduction.
1. Nature of a patent. Patent protection provides the owner with a limited period of time in which the owner can exclude others from making, using, offering to sell, or selling the invention. The resulting temporary exclusive rights to the invention can provide an incentive for a patent owner or a licensee to invest the resources required to advance the invention toward commercialization and use by the public. In return for offering temporary exclusive rights to the owner of a patent, a government requires the owner of the patent to make details of the invention available to the public in the patent document. Under United States law, the life of a patent extends 20 years from the date of application.
A patent is the grant of a property right by a government to the owner of an invention. Unlike copyright protections, patent rights do not follow automatically from the act of creation. The inventor or the patent's owner generally must request patent protection from the government of each country in which a patent is desired. The Patent Office in each country then will examine the application against its own laws and regulations and will– in due course–either deny or allow the grant of a patent in its jurisdiction. Because patent laws and associated administrative procedures are fairly complex, patent applications generally are prepared and prosecuted by specialists working on behalf of the inventor or owner.
2. Inventions eligible for patent protection. In the United States, an invention or discovery may be eligible for patent protection if it is a process, a machine, a manufactured object, a composition of matter, or a new use or improvement of any of the preceding. Courts have interpreted the patent statute (see www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm) to extend to software-related inventions when there is some connection to a useful, concrete result and to biological substances when there is some evidence of human intervention. For example, isolated DNA sequences or their purified protein products can be patented because in their "natural" states they are neither isolated nor purified. New uses of "products of nature" also may be patented, as may genetic modifications of otherwise natural organisms.
If an invention meets the threshold eligibility conditions for patenting, it still must meet additional criteria in order to earn a patent. Under U.S. law, a patented invention must be useful, novel, not obvious, and supported by adequate information.
3. Nature of inventorship. To be named as an "inventor" on a patent, an individual must have made an original contribution to the conceptualization of the invention as it is defined in the patent. The aspects of a patent that assert the defining elements of an invention are called the "claims" of the patent. If an individual has made a contribution to the conceptualization of any one defining claim of patent, then he or she is an "inventor" of the claimed invention. If any individual is responsible for all the claims of a patent, then he or she isthe sole inventor of the patent. In any other situation, the patent will have more than one co-inventor. One is not an inventor if his or her contribution was limited to "reducing to practice" the conception of the invention.
4. Objectives of the University Patent Policy. The primary objective of the University Patent Policy is to enable the public to use and benefit from inventions originating at the University. In pursuing this objective, the University will seek to manage inventions in a way that advances the academic missions of the institution, including research and scholarship. The Patent Policy further provides a framework for the orderly transfer of academic inventions to the private sector in exchange for compensation to the institution as well as to individual inventors. In keeping with the University’s academic objectives, the policy directs that portions of the institutional earnings from any patent will support research broadly across campus, research related to the patent, and administrative efforts to secure and manage additional patents.
1. Nature of a patent. Patent protection provides the owner with a limited period of time in which the owner can exclude others from making, using, offering to sell, or selling the invention. The resulting temporary exclusive rights to the invention can provide an incentive for a patent owner or a licensee to invest the resources required to advance the invention toward commercialization and use by the public. In return for offering temporary exclusive rights to the owner of a patent, a government requires the owner of the patent to make details of the invention available to the public in the patent document. Under United States law, the life of a patent extends 20 years from the date of application.
A patent is the grant of a property right by a government to the owner of an invention. Unlike copyright protections, patent rights do not follow automatically from the act of creation. The inventor or the patent's owner generally must request patent protection from the government of each country in which a patent is desired. The Patent Office in each country then will examine the application against its own laws and regulations and will– in due course–either deny or allow the grant of a patent in its jurisdiction. Because patent laws and associated administrative procedures are fairly complex, patent applications generally are prepared and prosecuted by specialists working on behalf of the inventor or owner.
2. Inventions eligible for patent protection. In the United States, an invention or discovery may be eligible for patent protection if it is a process, a machine, a manufactured object, a composition of matter, or a new use or improvement of any of the preceding. Courts have interpreted the patent statute (see www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm) to extend to software-related inventions when there is some connection to a useful, concrete result and to biological substances when there is some evidence of human intervention. For example, isolated DNA sequences or their purified protein products can be patented because in their "natural" states they are neither isolated nor purified. New uses of "products of nature" also may be patented, as may genetic modifications of otherwise natural organisms.
If an invention meets the threshold eligibility conditions for patenting, it still must meet additional criteria in order to earn a patent. Under U.S. law, a patented invention must be useful, novel, not obvious, and supported by adequate information.
3. Nature of inventorship. To be named as an "inventor" on a patent, an individual must have made an original contribution to the conceptualization of the invention as it is defined in the patent. The aspects of a patent that assert the defining elements of an invention are called the "claims" of the patent. If an individual has made a contribution to the conceptualization of any one defining claim of patent, then he or she is an "inventor" of the claimed invention. If any individual is responsible for all the claims of a patent, then he or she isthe sole inventor of the patent. In any other situation, the patent will have more than one co-inventor. One is not an inventor if his or her contribution was limited to "reducing to practice" the conception of the invention.
4. Objectives of the University Patent Policy. The primary objective of the University Patent Policy is to enable the public to use and benefit from inventions originating at the University. In pursuing this objective, the University will seek to manage inventions in a way that advances the academic missions of the institution, including research and scholarship. The Patent Policy further provides a framework for the orderly transfer of academic inventions to the private sector in exchange for compensation to the institution as well as to individual inventors. In keeping with the University’s academic objectives, the policy directs that portions of the institutional earnings from any patent will support research broadly across campus, research related to the patent, and administrative efforts to secure and manage additional patents.
Effective Date
Approved by Board of Curators: January 15, 2026