Faculty members should file an invention disclosure form when they believe they have
discovered something new that has possible commercial value, or when the terms of
a sponsored research project require disclosure of any invention.
Ideally, disclosure should occur before your work is published or any other public
disclosure of your work is made. Not disclosing before you make your work public can
affect a potential patent for which you might file, especially internationally. As
a general rule, an inventor has one year from first public disclosure of his/her work
in which to file for a patent. When you file an invention disclosure with ORC, please
make sure to inform the office if you have already or expect to soon discuss your
invention publicly.
