When submitting a publication for approval, you will be required to answer a question about disclosure of invention on question 1.4 of the Funding/IP tab in PANDA. It is each employee’s and each employee’s manager’s responsibility to report inventions to the Laboratory before first disclosing an invention in a publication.
Reporting each invention before publication preserves valuable foreign patent rights and prevents third party inventors from using knowledge of your invention to file applications claiming improvements to your invention before you file your application.
U.S. patent rights exist up to one year after the inventor’s first publication of the invention, thus if unreported at first publication, reporting each invention as soon as possible after first publication is also essential to the protection of the Laboratory’s Intellectual Property.
Thus, it is very important to identify the Laboratory’s inventions before first publication (and if not possible, as soon after first publication as possible). To report an invention, complete the Invention Reporting Form at: www.anl.gov/invent. If you have questions please contact Chief Patent Counsel, Mark Hilliard (ext. 9909; hilliard@anl.gov).
