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Reviewing a Patent Transfer Request
Things to Know about Reviewing a Patent Transfer Request
A Patent Transfer Request should be submitted when a contractor is retaining ownership of the invention, but simply wants to have a single Patent Report transferred to another joint owner (who also has federal funding). If the contractor is seeking agency permission to assign the ownership of a single patent to either an inventor or another third party, they should submit a Patent Assignment Request. If the contractor wants to transfer all of the patents, then an Invention Transfer Request may be more appropriate. If they have submitted the wrong type of request, simply reject the request and explain in the "Comments" field of "Reject Reasons" that they need to submit a different request type instead.
The contractor should communicate and coordinate with the inventor/third party to whom they wish to transfer the Patent Report before submitting a Patent Transfer Request because the inventor/third party will be required to register in iEdison (if they do not already have an account) and accept receipt of the patent in iEdison before the Request is forwarded to the agency for review.
The contractor should resolve all notifications possible prior to submitting the Patent Transfer Request.
NOTE: Supporting Documentation is not required from the contractor in order to submit this request. However, if you need additional information for the request, you can ask the contractor to upload supporting documentation.
To review a Patent Transfer Request, complete the following steps:
- Open the Patent Report with the pending Transfer Request
- Review the request
- Approve or deny the request
1. Open the Patent Report with the pending Transfer Request
When an organization user has submitted a Patent Transfer Request and the receiving Inventor or Third Party accepts their request, you will receive an Alert Notification in your dashboard. Click on the Patent Docket number to open the Patent Report and view the status of the request.
2. Review the request
Navigate to the Requests panel to review the request. To begin the review, click on the "Start Review" button. The status of the request will change to Pending for the requester, and they will no longer be able to edit the request.
If you wish to view the full note provided by the requester, hover your pointer over the text in the "Request Reasons/Comments" column and their message will appear in a floating window.
What if I have questions or need additional information?
If you need additional information in order to process the request or have any follow-up questions related to the request, notify the awardee by initiating a discussion under the "Discussions" section of the Invention Report. The awardee can then respond to your discussion and, if needed, edit the request with additional information. Then you can approve or deny the request based on this updated information.
3. Approve or deny the request
To submit a decision, click on the "Agency Approval" button.
A popup window will open with details of the request along with "Approve" and "Deny" buttons.
When you click the "Approve" button, the receiving party will have full access to the Patent Report, and the requestor will have Read Only access.
When you click the "Deny" button, a popup window will open with a comments field requiring you to input a reason for the denial for the requester to review.
