Faculty

We encourage you to contact Yale Ventures during your discovery process to ensure you are aware of the options that will help maximize the commercial potential of your research. Yale Ventures staff members will assist you with questions related to marketability, funding sources, commercial partners, patenting and other protection methods, new business startup considerations, Yale policies and procedures, and much more. 

• Faculty: Share your idea
• Connect with a member of our team

An Invention Disclosure (ID) is a description of your invention or development that is provided to Yale Ventures. The ID lists all collaborating sources of support and includes information necessary to begin pursuing protection and commercialization activities. To initiate the process, please disclose your invention online to Yale Ventures. This document will be treated as confidential. Using the Disclosure, Yale Ventures can then generate a non-confidential description of your invention to assist in marketing the technology and creating confidentiality agreements with outsiders to allow more detailed exchanges of information with potential partners.

The process of technology transfer is summarized in the steps that follow. Note that these steps can vary in sequence and often occur simultaneously.

1. Research: Observations and experiments during research activities often lead to discoveries and inventions. An invention is any useful process, machine, composition of matter, or any new or useful improvement of the same. Often, multiple researchers may have contributed to the invention.
2. Pre-Disclosure: An early contact with Yale Ventures personnel to discuss your invention and to provide guidance with respect to the disclosure, evaluation, and protection processes described below.
3. Invention Disclosure: The written notice of invention to Yale Ventures that begins the formal technology transfer process. An invention disclosure remains a confidential document, and should fully document your invention so that the options for commercialization can be evaluated and pursued. An invention disclosure should be ideally be submitted before any disclosure of your technology outside of the Yale community.
4. Assessment: The period in which you and your Yale Ventures representative review the invention disclosure, conduct patent searches (if applicable), and analyze the market and competitive landscape to determine the invention’s commercialization potential. The evaluation process, which may lead to a broadening or refinement of the invention, will guide our strategy on whether to focus on licensing to an existing company or creating a new business startup.
5. Protection: The process in which protection for an invention is pursued to encourage third party interest in commercialization.Patent protection, a common legal protection method, begins with the filing of a patent application with the U.S. Patent Office and, when appropriate, foreign patent offices. Once a patent application has been filed, it will require several years and many thousands of dollars to obtain issued U.S. and foreign patents. Other protection options include copyright and trademark protection.
6. Marketing: With your active involvement, Yale Ventures staff will identify candidate companies that have the expertise, resources, and business networks to bring the technology to market. This may involve partnering with an existing company or forming a startup. Your active involvement can dramatically shorten this process.
7. Form a Startup: If creation of a new business startup has been chosen as the optimal commercialization path, Yale Ventures’ Director of New Ventures will assist in planning, creating and funding the startup.
8. Existing Business Relationship: If an appropriate and interested existing business is identified as a potential licensee, Yale Ventures licensing specialists identify mutual interests, goals and plans to fully commercialize this technology through a license agreement.
9. Licensing: A license agreement is a contract between Yale and a third party in which Yale’s rights to a technology are licensed (without relinquishing ownership) for financial and other benefits. A license agreement is used with both a new startup business or with an established company. An option agreement is sometimes used to enable a third party to evaluate the technology for a limited time before licensing.
10. Commercialization: The licensee company continues the advancement of the technology, and makes other business investments to develop the product or service. This step may entail further development, regulatory approvals, sales and marketing, support, training, and other activities.
11. Revenue: Set portions of the revenues received by Yale from licensees are distributed to the inventors, Yale and other institutions (in the case of jointly owned inventions) to fund additional research and education and to encourage further participation in the tech transfer process.

Ownership depends upon the employment status of the creators of the invention and their use of Yale resources or facilities. Considerations include:

• What is the source of the funds or resources used to produce the invention?
• What was the employment status of the creators at the time the intellectual property was made?
• What are the terms of any agreement related to the creation of the intellectual property?
  As a general rule, the Yale owns inventions made by its employees while acting within the scope of their employment or using Yale resources. In some cases, the terms of a Sponsored Research Agreement or Materials Transfer Agreement may impact ownership. When in doubt, it is best to call Yale Ventures for advice.

A license is a permission that the owner or controller of intellectual property grants to another party, usually under a license agreement.

https://ventures.yale.edu/ip-licensing/i-have-idea-submit-disclosure