Kurt G. Hammerle JSC Office Of the Chief Counsel Intellectual Property Attorney 20 January 2012 1 Got Ideas?- Protecting and Reporting Inventions.

Kurt G. HammerleJSC Office Of the Chief Counsel

Intellectual Property Attorney20 January 2012

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Got Ideas?-Protecting and Reporting

Inventions

What is Intellectual Property?

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PatentsTrademarks ® Copyrights ©

Trade SecretsIndustrial Designs

What is Patentable?

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U.S. Law: “[A]ny new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof”

U.S. Supreme Court: “Anything under the sun made by man”- Diamond v. Chakrabarty

How to Protect Inventions

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Keep It PrivateRestrictive Markings and Cover SheetsPasswords and Encryption for e-mail and mobile

electronic storage devicesNon-Disclosure Agreements outside NASA

Report inventions as soon as possible, once “conception” is complete

When to Report Inventions

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Once conception is completeBuilding and testing the idea (a prototype) is useful, but not required

If you are able to adequately describe the idea for a publication, then you should report it to NASA

What is Reportable?

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NASA Contractors - “Reportable item”:Any Invention or Discovery That Is or May Be Patentable

“Made”, i.e. Conceived or First Reduced to Practice

“In the Performance of Work”, i.e., Research Contracts

Reportable Items include Software

What is Reportable?

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NASA Employees - “Inventions”:Any Invention That Is or May Be Patentable

“Made”, i.e. Conceived or First Reduced to Practice

At Anytime During Your Employment

How to Report Inventions

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Report new technologies through the NASA Electronic New Technology Reporting (eNTRe) website at: http://invention.nasa.gov OR

Fill out a New Technology Report (NTR) NASA Form 1679

Submit NTR to JSC Technology Transfer & Commercialization Office (Code AO5)

Screen Shot: http://invention.nasa.gov

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What Happens Next?

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IncomingDisclosures

To PatentPreparation

*Do not patent

*Do not patent

*Do not patent

*May be eligible for awardsTech Brief Publication and AwardSpace Act AwardSoftware Awards

To Possible License

Tech Brief: Recognition CertificatePatent Application Award: $500 to

$1,000Software Release: $500 to $1,000Inventions and Contributions Board

Awards: Up to $100,000– Space Act Award– NASA Invention of the Year– NASA Software of the Year

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awards

Benefits