June 11, 2005

By The Daily Progress / Saturday

The University of Virginia Patent Foundation encourages U.Va. employees to submit written descriptions or "disclosures" of their inventions; it identifies the inventions that are original and have commercial potential; and it files applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect those inventions. If and when the U.S. Patent Office completes an examination of the patent application and agrees that the invention is original and should be protected, the U.S. Patent issues a patent, which the U.Va. Patent Foundation, on behalf of the inventor and the University, then markets to companies willing to pay a licensing fee to have exclusive use of the technology. The functions of the Patent Foundation were incorrectly described in a story Friday.