University of Maryland Office of Technology Commercialization

Inventors Manual Glossary

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Ab Initio
Latin for "from the beginning." Under most foreign patent laws, any prior publication describing an invention nullifies patent rights ab initio, or retroactively/from the beginning.

Angel Investors
Individual investors with money to invest in early-stage or start-up companies.

Bayh-Dole Act
Public Law 96-517 enacted in 1980, which enables universities to retain the rights, title and interest in inventions made under government sponsorship.

Conception
"The formation in the mind of the inventor of a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention, as it is hereafter to be applied to practice" (from The Law of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Inventions: Patent and Nonpatent Protection, 2nd edition, pg. 1654.5 (Rosenstock; Aspen Law & Brini 2004).

Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement
Provides protection for the University and its inventor to share proprietary and confidential information with a company; protects intellectual property rights for the future.

Copyright
Can be allowed for an original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression; protects the expression but not the idea of the expression or the facts contained in it. Duration of rights depends on when work was first created or published.

Design Patent
Protects the invention of any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Provides 14 years of protection.

Exclusive License Agreement
Extensive relationship that often involves ongoing collaborations and payments including perhaps sponsored research and consultation between the inventor and the Company.

Intellectual Property
Any writing or discovery that is a new and useful process, machine, composition of matter, life form, article of manufacture, software, trademark, trade secret, copyrighted work or tangible research property.

Inter-Institutional Agreement
Creates a relationship by which the University of Maryland, College Park, and another university can consolidate their licensing efforts and share the costs and revenues associated with the patenting and licensing of a joint invention.

Inventor
One who has conceived of an invention, from The Law of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Inventions: Patent and Nonpatent Protection, 2nd edition, pg. 1654.5 (Rosenstock; Aspen Law & Brini 2004).

License Agreement
The typical contract by which an invention is put into commercial use; essentially an agreement by the owner of the intellectual property rights not to sue the licensee for infringement, so long as the licensee's actions are within the terms of the agreement.

Material Transfer Agreement
A binding legal agreement between the owner of research material and the recipient of the material, it sets forth conditions of transfer and use, protects proprietary interests and restricts distribution of the material. The most important MTA aspect is that it removes any liability on the part of the provider that might arise from the use of the research property. An MTA helps preserve the intellectual property rights of the University and inventor, and it provides a record of the property transfer.

Non-exclusive License Agreement
Relationship may be limited to a one-time delivery of materials and/or payment of royalties.

Option Agreement
Gives the company a period of time to evaluate its commercial interest in a technology. Many include terms for specific technology development funding, in which the company funds research in the inventor's lab while retaining an option to acquire licensing rights. At the end of the option, the company will either negotiate terms for a license or allow the option to terminate.

Patent
A published, legal document that is the result of a formal filing for the property right granted by a sovereign nation; gives the holder thereof the exclusive right to exclude others from the manufacture, use, import and sale of an invention for a period of years; or if the invention is a process, of the right to exclude others from using or conducting the process, also for a period of years.

Plant Patents
Protects discoveries made and asexual reproduction resulting in any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids and newly found seedlings other than a tuber-propagated plant found in an uncultivated state. Provides 20 years of protection.

Plant Variety Protection
An act that encourages the development of novel varieties of sexually reproduced plants and makes them available to the public; provides protection to those who breed, develop or discover these types of plants, and thereby promotes progress in agriculture in the public interest; used to protect plants that are not propagated by cuttings; provides protection for 18 years.

Priority Date
A priority date is established for the invention when one first files a patent application that describes the invention in detail.

Provisional Patent Application
Preserves the rights of the invention in the United States for up to 12 months, then a standard patent application must be filed if a patent is desired. Unlike a regular patent application, a complete provisional application does not require one or more claims since no examination on the merits of the invention will be given. If not publicly disclosed, the provisional application can be re-filed at the end of 12 months.

Publication
Varies from country to country: articles in newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, textbooks, journals, theses and reports may all qualify; oral presentations or distribution of a paper or abstract at a public meeting may qualify. Enabling publications describe the invention in sufficient detail so it could be duplicated or put to use.

Quid pro Quo
Something given or received for something else, one thing for another or an equivalent. In the United States, an inventor fully explains his or her invention in return for the protection of a U.S. patent.

Standstill Agreement
OTC can agree to refrain from licensing the technology to others for a defined period of time; usually signed with a faculty inventor prior to creation of a start-up company.

Start-up Companies
Faculty inventor takes a technology and starts a company with approval from OTC; the faculty inventors must demonstrate a clear commitment and ability to develop the licensed technology. Initially, this may be a request to create a well-formulated business plan or produce profits.

Tangible Research Property
Monoclonal antibodies, cell lines, etc. that can be patented.

Technology Development Agreement
Interested company agrees to support additional research or pay a retainer to buy an option to protect its interests while further development is pursued.

Technology Transfer
The sharing of knowledge and facilities among federal laboratories, industry, universities, governments and third party intermediaries.

TEDCO
Created by the State legislature in 1998, Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is a "body politic and corporate" and is "constituted as a public instrumentality of the State." Governed by a 15-member Board, appointed by the Governor with advice and consent of the Senate, the Board is comprised of leaders in the State's technology community and contains representatives from these sectors: private, university, non-profit and public.

Trade Secret
Information is simply not disclosed. Once information comes out, all rights are lost.

Trademark
Used for words, names or symbols used by manufacturers or merchants to identify and distinguish their product from others and to indicate the source of the products. Can be renewed every 10 years as long as used.

UTDF Grant
Provides resources to Maryland universities to support pre-commercial research on university intellectual property to increase the likelihood of commercializing that intellectual property. University must pay TEDCO 25% of all revenue received for rights to intellectual property developed with UTDF funding until it has repaid three times the UTDF funding provided.

Utility Patent
A "non-provisional" patent; protects the structure and function of the invention defined by the claims of the patent, which are the numbered paragraphs at the end of the patent.

Venture Capitalist
Investors who provide, generally, from $1 million to $3 million in chunks of money commonly referred to as rounds. These dollars go to growing the company – for example, hiring employees, product prototyping and commercialization. Generally will only invest in people with distinguished track records in their fields.

This is an ongoing project and ever-changing document. If you see a word on our site that should be included in our glossary or if you have additions to our definitions, let us know at otc@umd.edu.