Initial Meeting
Research Affairs - Technology Transfer may set up an initial meeting with you to understand and assess the scope of your work and to identify an appropriate approach to meet your needs.
Topics that Technology Transfer may discuss with you:
Technical and scientific merits of the invention
- Is supporting or clinical data available?
- Is this a core technology for your discipline or an improvement on an existing invention?
- What is the stage of development of the invention? Is this a concept or is a prototype available?
- Is it marketable “as is”?
Your research team
- Does your team have active plans to continue working on projects related to the invention?
- Are you able to offer background information or technical assistance to potential licensees of your invention?
- Will you or your lab have resources to send copies of the invention to licensees?
- Are you or your team available to consult on the invention?
Rights to the innovation
- Will Loma Linda University have clear title to the intellectual property rights to the invention, or will the rights be shared with another entity?
Obligations to other parties
- Are there contractual arrangements and any third party materials used in the invention or proposed for use of the invention?
- Will obligations to others limit LLU’s licensing or distribution opportunities, copyright or pursuing a patent?
Pathways for external access and/or commercialization
- Do you propose to offer no-fee licenses to academics?
- Do you see the invention as best commercially licensed to industry or offered to end-users?
- Can this invention be bundled with existing technologies?
Startup potential
- Are you (or members of your research team) interested in founding a company?
Industry contacts
- Have you been contacted by companies interested in your research?
- Are you interested in pursuing the opportunities offered by the companies who have contacted you?
- Have you been asked to sign a Confidential Disclosure Agreement?
Future development plans
- Do you have plans for additional elements or modules for the invention?
- Is this the first of several offerings you have planned?
- What is the time schedule for the new offerings?
LLU Evaluation and Approval
After reviewing the disclosure and perhaps meeting with you, the Technology Transfer director will refer the disclosure to the LLU Intellectual Properties Committee (IPC), an advisory panel which conducts an in-depth review of the invention and consults with other experts in the field as necessary. You may be asked to give a presentation to this committee and answer any questions they may have.
IPC forwards their recommendations to the Vice President for Research Affairs. The VPRA makes the final decision whether or not to seek legal protection of the intellectual property rights and move forward to commercialize the invention.
There are three (3) possible outcomes to the LLU Review and Approval process:
- LLU will decide to take the necessary steps to protect the invention by patents with the intent of eventually licensing it. LLU will assume the costs of patent protection.
- LLU will ask the inventor to collect more data on the invention and re-submit at a later date.
- LLU will decide not to pursue commercialization of the invention. In this case, LLU will release the invention and may assign the University's ownership rights to the inventor/s. According to LLU policy (see section 3.4.10 of the Faculty Handbook), this should be done with 45 days of the inventor submitting the Invention Disclosure form, or sooner if necessary. For any federally funded invention, the federal agency must approve the assignment. The inventor/s may then choose to pursue patent protection and commercialization of the invention independently. The institution will also retain a nonexclusive right to use the invention as originally developed for non-commercial purposes to further its mission.