• Manage intellectual property generated from university research
• Execute and manage commercial licenses and other agreements related to IP
• Administer OSU’s Policy on Patents and Copyrights
• Distribute licensing revenues to inventors and colleges
• Confidential disclosure agreements (CDA’s)
• Materials Transfer Agreements (MTA’s)

Our office functions as a “cradle to grave” manager for OSU inventions. We are responsible for handling all patent and licensing activities and distribution of royalties and payments received related to industrial partnerships. Upon disclosure of a technology to our office, we assess its patentability and commercial potential by evaluating the technology from a business perspective, looking at the prior literature to determine if patent rights exist, and performing a preliminary search for potential commercial partners. We are responsible for working with patent counsel for all the filings and prosecution of the patent application. We market the invention, seeking industrial partners for further development and commercialization of the technology. This may be in the form of an outright license, sponsored research agreement, or in some cases, formation of a spin-off company. Not insignificantly, upfront costs associated with filing and maintaining patents are borne by our office until licensing revenues are generated. We often ask faculty inventors’ colleges to help with the costs, which can be tens of thousands of dollars when all is said and done.