UNamur / Research / Technology Transfer

Patent filing

Patent

Patents protect innovation and constitute an example of technology transfer. A patent is a property right granted by the Authorities to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention or importing the invention” for a limited time in a given territory, in exchange for public disclosure of the invention.

Patentability

An invention may be a product, the use of a product, a process, or a device. In order to be patentable, the invention must be:

new;
inventive; and
susceptible of industrial application.

Filing of patent applications at FUNDP

After consideration, and if deemed appropriate, the filing of a patent application proceeds through the Technology Transfer Office (TTO), which provides support throughout the process. Patents are filed with FUNDP as the assignee, while mentioning the inventors’ names. At every step of the way, the TTO does its best to reconcile patent filing with scientific publication.

The invention is first submitted to the TTO through the Invention Disclosure form (.doc).
Prior to any patent filing, the TTO performs an anteriority search, in order to establish the state of the art in the technical domain of the invention. The TTO also realizes a preliminary evaluation of the economic potentials of the invention as well as of the financial set-up required to fund the filing.
Based on the Invention Disclosure form and preliminary evaluations, FUNDP’s Patent Committee renders its opinion on the opportunity of filing a patent application.