Patent Policies

Governing Policies

• BOR Policy 401.2 [PDF]
• Principal Investigator (PI) Handbook

Sponsored Agreements

Inventions developed under a sponsored research agreement or contract are governed by a contract and are likely subject to reporting. Please consult the Director or Sponsored Projects to ensure you are meeting requirements. Inventors that do not follow contractual guidelines are subject to revocation of PI privileges at Montana Tech.

Before filing a patent, the invention must be reviewed by the Patent Management Committee. This helps the University prioritize its limited patenting budget.

Procedures by which to appeal a patenting decision are described in BOR Policy 401.2.

International Patents

As noted in the PI Handbook, international filings are anticipated to be rare. Please contact the VCR and/or the Chair of the Patent Management Committee to request an exception. As is the case for US Patent, when the University declines to pursue an international patent, the patenting rights revert to the inventor, as specified in BOR Policy 401.2, IIE2(c). As before, the VCR will issue the inventor a formal statement noting that the University has declined to pursue international patenting, and the inventor may do so at their own expense. Note: that the inventor may not use any University funds (including an IDC) when pursuing at their own expense.

Costs

For preparing/filing a non-provisional patent, the patent lawyers operate via a fixed price contract. The research office will notify you of the fixed price for your filing. These costs of filing are generally split 50:50 between the research office and the “home” unit of the inventor, be that the IDC account of the inventor(s), the department(s), or the college(s). The annual patenting budget of the research office is based on the assumption that the research office will cover 50% of the patenting costs. Alternate distributions of the patenting costs—including ‘loans’—may be negotiated with the VCR, but the inventor should be advised this will impact subsequent patenting decisions. Each year, the RO operates on a limited budget which considers both past patenting activity and past licensing revenue. The ultimate split of the expenses will define the ‘unit’, per for the distribution of any eventual patent revenue, with ‘unit’ and revenue distributed defined in BOR Policy 401.2.