Licensing Inventions

Among the many roles of the university are the expansion of knowledge and the performance of public service that may improve the quality of life for its constituencies. It is the university's responsibility to bring into public use any commercially applicable discovery made in its laboratories and to ensure that discoveries are properly protected and pursued to full development. While patents are intended to promote progress and serve the public, patents and technology transfer also benefit inventors and the university through recognition and monetary returns. A major objective of OTC is to strive to match campus inventions with potential sponsors or licensees. Income from up-front payments, purchases of tangible research property, option fees, license fees and royalties negotiated with the university are distributed according to a formula defined in the University of Maryland Patent Policy.

Licensing technology is intended by the university to enhance its role as a research institution. Although each license agreement varies according to the technology, OTC maintains standard agreements for sample transfer, collaborations, options and licenses. These standard agreements, combined with the centralized mission of the office, result in rapid transfer of technology to industry. The university retains the right to use licensed technologies internally for educational and research purposes and to publish and disseminate results from such additional ongoing research work.

The university is willing to meet with any interested commercial party to discuss opportunities for the transfer and/or development of technologies from the university to the public marketplace. Industrial representatives may contact OTC to receive executive summaries of technologies available for license or technical information packages, to schedule on-campus visits and presentations, or to meet with faculty researchers. It is the primary goal of OTC to foster a constructive and beneficial relationship between industry and the university so that each organization may enjoy the results of cooperative efforts.