Invention Submission Packet (ISP)
The Invention Submission Packet (ISP) is the first document that needs to be completed and sent to CHW's Intellectual Property Office. Completing an ISP starts the process of evaluating and protecting an invention.
An invention can be a process, device, technology, software or other material that is new and useful. In order for an invention to be protected by a patent, copyright or trademark, its creation can not be obvious or "reasonably foreseeable" to others ordinarily skilled in the field and not have been previously described or presented in a public forum. In other words, it must not be obviously close to, or be a derivate of another similar or existing technology, device, process or software.
A certain amount of critical information is needed to evaluate an innovation. First, a detailed description of the invention and its functionality is needed to assess technical merits, usefulness, protectability and potential value. Second, a statement of the advantages it has over the existing technologies or products is helpful. Third it is essential to identify all the inventor(s) and date(s) when the invention was developed and conceived and the date of first public disclosure (past or future). Lastly, signatures are nevessary to complete the submission.
When submitting your Invention Submission Packet (ISP) you will be asked to attach any detail related to the invention, including any relevant manuscripts by the inventors and citations of relevant publications. Include enough information to fully explain your invention to someone who is not familiar with it.
Please take the time to completely explain your invention. The feature(s) for which patent protection is desired must be illustrated or clearly described in the patent itself. Attach as many pages as required. The ISP will form the basis for a potential patent application and should provide detailed guidance on how to make and use the invention. This ISP should include working examples and experimental data in support of your invention; support will reduce the likelihood of a rejected patent application based on lack of enablement.
In general terms: how does the invention work, what are the key components, how do the components work together, from what material(s) can the invention/components be made, what are the design parameters if any, how is your invention different from the prior art, what in particular makes it better than the prior art, describe any alternative embodiments of your invention (even if they are not currently preferred).
When drafting your ISP, keep in mind the tests for patentability (below).
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Tests for patentability |
- New or Novel: an invention must be clearly and demonstrably different from any prior art. (Prior art refers to any publicly available information such as existing technology, processes, methods, or products.)
- Useful: an invention must represent a new application or method or an improvement over existing products or techniques.
- Non-Obvious: an invention must go beyond any known equivalents, so that it is not obvious to one skilled in the art. This is a frequent cause for rejection of a patent application. Identifying and carefully considering close equivalents will greatly assist the patent application process and improve the chances of successfully prosecuting a patent application.
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Your ISP should state what your invention is and how it is different (or superior to) the current state-of-the-art. Please list and briefly describe the closest equivalents to your discovery. Internet search engines (such as Google and PubMed) should be used to identify similar and/or related technologies. Such technologies (patented or not) may limit the "novelty" of your invention, thus causing a rejection of the claims in the patent application.
Once the Intellectual Property Office receives a completed ISP, the inventor will be contacted. In the end, pursuing legal protections, like patenting, is a business decision for CHW. As U.S. laws continually change, the sooner the Intellectual Property office is contacted the better the chance for successfully protecting CHW-derived innovations.
Please forward the completed ISP to chwip@chw.edu.
You may also mail your completed ISP:
CHW Intellectual Property Office
3030 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1402
Phoenix, AZ 85012
Please contact the CHW IP at (602) 406-5165 if you have any questions. |
