When you wish to disclose an invention, software, or both to the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), use the disclosure of invention forms on the Texas A&M Technology Commercialization website. Complete the applicable form, and after you have completed the form, submit the completed form to TTC-Disclosures@tamus.edu.
TEES’ Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Office will review the submitted form to make sure that it is complete. Our office will then submit the completed disclosure form to be reviewed for export control. The majority of disclosures are not controlled under applicable export control regulations.
If the disclosure is not export controlled, our office will submit any disclosures that resulted from federally funded research to the federal funding agency, as required by law, and will elect to obtain title to the invention. A member of our invention management staff will then assess the disclosure for patentability and commercial viability. An invention management staff member will then contact you to set up a meeting with you to learn more about your invention.
After that meeting, our office will assess the invention and determine whether to file a patent application directed to the invention. If our staff decline to file a patent application directed to the invention and subject to any duties owed to third parties (such as the U.S. government), TEES may release the invention to you so that you can pursue patent protection independently of TEES. If TEES does seek patent protection directed to the invention, TEES will involve you, as appropriate and necessary, in the preparation of a patent application directed to your invention.
Features of Successful Invention Disclosures
The following are indicators of successfully commercialized inventions:
- There is a working prototype that demonstrates the features that make the invention an improvement over the art.
- The novel aspects of the invention demonstrably and quantifiably: reduce a cost in a commercially significant way; reduce a manufacturing time in a commercially significant way; or address a current or anticipated future unmet market need.
- The invention is an area of active research for the faculty member such that the faculty member continues to improve or enhance the inventive concept over time.
- The invention is directed to either a composition of matter or a device, rather than solely to a method for making a composition of matter or a device.
- Infringement of the invention is detectable without undue effort. For example, if an invention is directed to a process, it is possible to detect that the process is being infringed without having to gain access to the alleged infringer’s factory.