1. Contact us as early as possible so that we can help you through the process of securing proprietary rights to the invention.
2. The inventor(s) completes and submits an Invention Disclosure with related supporting materials to the Technology Transfer Office. This step is important as it establishes inventorship and the date of invention. The online Invention Disclosure form is accessed using Dartmouth Single Sign-On and can be found at the link. Please click on “Invention Disclosure” link in the grey Task box in the upper right of the landing page.
3. Technology Transfer team reviews the disclosure internally to note any deadlines and/or public disclosures that may impact the invention's patentability. In addition, we review related grant requirements, material transfer agreements, rights of private research sponsors and other ownership issues.
4. After internal review, we submit the Invention Disclosure for outside evaluation by a patent attorney. We inform the evaluator about imminent public disclosure dates (conference presentations, imminent publications, etc.). The invention is evaluated for patentability according to the U.S. Patent Law, i.e. to be patentable, an invention has to be novel, non-obvious and useful. The patent application must enable the practice of the invention with sufficient written description.
   
   To establish novelty, a prior art search is done to determine whether there are issued patents, published articles or other published information capturing major features of the invention in question. In addition to being novel, to be patentable an invention must also be non-obvious. “Obvious” means that the prior art provides a suggestion or motivation to modify teachings in the prior art to make a similar invention by somebody “skilled in the art”. To be patentable an invention must be capable of some beneficial use in ways that represent improvements over existing products or techniques. The enablement and written description requirements generally relate to how well the specification (narrative part of the patent application preceding claims) describes the invention and provides a manner and process of making and using the invention in terms enabling any person skilled in the art, to which it pertains, to make and use the invention.
   
   This analysis also helps us to execute business due diligence, in order to determine how desirable it would be for a private company to obtain a license to a possible patent.
5. Once the evaluation been made, we share results with the inventor and, if necessary, arrange further discussions to be sure that we have captured all aspects and embodiments of the invention.
6. If we decide to file for a patent, we proceed by filing a provisional patent application (place holder for one year) assignable to the Trustees of Dartmouth College and naming all the appropriate inventors. Technology Transfer team will direct the patent prosecution and the costs will be paid by the College (costs will be recovered from royalty or equity payments).
7. If the inventor wishes to start-up their own company based on the invention, we will work with the inventor and the inventor’s representatives to draw up the necessary license and other agreements. Faculty should be aware of the policy about the use of Dartmouth space for start-up ventures, which can be found here.
8. Once a patent or patent application is licensed, license revenue is distributed in accordance with Dartmouth College Patent Policy.
9. If the College decides not to proceed with patenting the invention, the title may be released to the inventor(s), subject to the requirements of the sponsor(s) of the research from which the invention arose. 

During the process of invention evaluation, inventors should not disclose any confidential information pertaining to the invention. Once an invention is disclosed publicly, in oral, visual or written forms (including e-mail or internet posting), foreign patent rights are immediately forfeited and the clock begins ticking on a 12 month grace period to file in the US. If an inventor must discuss the technology before Technology Transfer files a patent application or otherwise concludes its evaluation, the Technology Transfer provides Confidentiality Agreements for individual and corporate discussions (potential licensees, sponsors of further research, venture capitalists, etc.). It is important to understand however that there is no such protection of an invention in public forums, such as conferences. On the other hand, a grant application to a federal agency is not considered a public disclosure until it is awarded.