Disclosure of New Technology

Yes.  Early engagement with UB can help you better understand UB's processes, identify a path forward and assist you in avoiding certain pitfalls. Please contact the UB Incubator Commercialization Manager assigned to your area.

* Because these meetings can be very educational and informative for both parties, UB encourages you to include your graduate students and post-docs.

The Commercialization Manager (CM) will explain the process to you and ask about your technology and area(s) of research before providing recommendations as to whether and when to submit a New Technology Disclosure (NTD). The CM also may offer suggestions for the types of data, results or information that you will need before the invention is ready for the next step. In addition, the CM may request that you complete certain activities (laboratory and/or web-based research) before submitting an NTD.

* Because these meetings can be very educational and informative for both parties, UB encourages you to include your graduate students and post-docs.

Yes you can. However publication or presentation in any form prior to the filing of a patent application may adversely impact potential foreign patent rights and will start the one-year “clock” within the U.S.

It is best to submit a New Technology Disclosure well before communicating or disclosing your invention to people outside your research group.

A New Technology Disclosure (NTD) is a written description of your technology that is submitted to UB.  

No.  Although the New Technology Disclosure (NTD) is treated as confidential, it does not provide any protection for your technology.  Protection is provided only through filings and agreements that take place subsequent to the submission and evaluation of an NTD by UB.

As an obligation of your employment and as specified in the Patents and Inventions Policy of the State University of New York, all inventions made by faculty members, employees, students, and all others utilizing university facilities shall belong to state university and should be voluntarily disclosed, or shall be disclosed to state university upon request of the university.

Under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, you also have an obligation to disclose technologies developed with the use of federal funds.  UB handles the reporting of such technologies to the sponsoring agency.

Submission of a New Technology Disclosure provides an internal record of the technology’s development. It also enables UB to begin assessment of the technology for protection needs and commercialization opportunities.

We encourage you to submit a New Technology Disclosure whenever you feel you have discovered or developed something unique and which potentially has commercial value. You should make your disclosure long before you or your students present or publish the technology.

You may submit a description of your technology to UB using the New Technology Disclosure form.

The New Technology Disclosure consists of the following parts:

• Title
• Past and planned disclosures
• Funding sources
• Third party agreements (e.g. MTAs, CDAs)
• Marketing targets and contacts, if known
• A detailed description of the technology
• A list of inventors/developers and the nature of their contribution

You may attach documents to the submission. Documents and information that UB finds useful include:

• Manuscripts
• Publications (journal, thesis, etc.)
• Slide decks
• Posters
• Published patents and applications relevant to the technology
• Statements and evidence that distinguish your technology from the prior art
• Descriptions, references or links to competing research groups and/or technologies
• A description of all data, both success and failure data
• All relevant sketches, designs, drawings, images, pictures, etc.

If you have developed tools that would benefit other researchers and you are interested in making them available, UB recommends that you report them via a New Technology Disclosure.

UB considers research tools to include materials such as antibodies, vectors, plasmids, cell lines, mice and other materials used as “tools” in the research process. In general, patents are not required in order to license and commercialize research tools and/or to generate revenue for your laboratory. 

If you have research tools that you believe to be valuable, or wish to provide to others (including research collaborators), UB will work with you to develop the appropriate protection, licensing and distribution strategy.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of technologies that should be submitted:

• Research tools (e.g. antibodies, vectors, plasmids, cell lines, mice and research reagents)
• Biologics (proteins, peptides, antibodies and nucleic acids for diagnosing, treating or preventing disease)
• Chemical compositions
• New uses for making or using biologics or chemical compositions
• Medical devices
• Computer software
• Novel materials
• Instruments
• Machines
• Drug delivery technologies