Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Receiving an Invention Transfer Request

Things to Know Before Receiving an Invention Transfer Request

NOTE: THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW ARE FOR THE ORGANIZATION/PERSON TO WHOM THE INVENTION IS BEING TRANSFERRED, NOT THE ORGANIZATION REQUESTING THE TRANSFER. FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SUBIT A TRANSFER REQUEST SEE Submitting an Invention Transfer Request.

An Invention Transfer Request should be submitted by the organization who currently owns the Invention Report (i.e., it is listed under their organization). An Invention Transfer Request is required when they are seeking to transfer access and therefore reporting obligations for an Invention Report to another organization/person, though there is no change in ownership rights to the Invention. If they are assigning all your rights in the invention to an inventor or third party, they should submit an Assignment Request instead of a Transfer Request. The organization submitting the transfer request and the recipient organization should discuss and agree to transferring the Invention Report (outside of iEdison) prior to submitting the Invention Transfer Request.

In order for an Invention Transfer request to be submitted to the primary funding agency for approval, the receiving organization must first agree to have the Invention Report (and any associated patents, if applicable) transferred to their organization. By agreeing to the Transfer Request, the recipient organization are agreeing to take over all the iEdison/Bayh-Dole reporting for this particular subject invention (and any associated patents, if applicable). If the recipient organization accepts the request, the funding agency will be notified and will be prompted to approve or deny the request. If the recipient organization rejects the request, it will never be sent to the funding agency for approval.

To receive an Invention Transfer Request, complete the following steps:

  1. Click on the Invention Report number
  2. Accept or reject the request

1. Click on the Invention Report number

Incoming requests for invention transfers will appear under Alert Notifications in your dashboard (or you can search for notification number 622 in your full notification list accessible through the Sidebar Menu). Click on the "Invention Report #" to respond to the request.

Dashboard screenshot.

2. Accept or reject the request

When you click the "Invention Report #," a popup window will open with more details. To accept the Transfer Request, click the "Accept" button. The status of the request in the initiating organizations Invention Report will change to "Agreement Received." The primary funding agency will be notified of your acceptance, and they will then be asked to approve or deny the transfer request. If the primary funding agency approves, the Invention Report will be transferred to you, and you will now have full access to the Invention Report and be responsible for all iEdison reporting.

NOTE: Clicking on the Invention Report Number will not give you full access to the Invention Report, it will only result in the pop-up asking for your approval. After approving receipt of the request, you will not be able to search for or otherwise have access to the Invention Report until the primary agency approves the transfer at which time, the Invention Report will be given a new Invention Report Number (reflecting your organization) and you will receive full access to the Invention Report (and any associated patents).

To reject the request, click the "Reject" button. The initiator of the request will maintain access to the Invention Report.

Request decision screenshot.
Created June 27, 2022, Updated July 1, 2022