Home > Investigators >Invention Disclosure

New and improved compounds for diagnosis or therapy, medical devices and software, immunoassays, research reagents, videodisks for patient education - inventions such as these are frequently made by MGH researchers and clinicians.

When feasible, the MGH seeks to make them available to the public, so that they can be used to improve medical care, research and education. The key to doing this is generally the protection and licensing of "intellectual property" rights. Patent and copyright protection, in particular, can preserve the value of these inventions and make them attractive to companies that have the ability to develop them into useful products.

Licensing of intellectual property not only helps translate academic inventions into readily available products, but also can encourage companies to sponsor research at the hospital. In addition, if a product based on a licensed invention is commercially successful, it will provide royalty income to benefit both the hospital's research effort and the individual inventors.

The basis for licensing, sponsored research and other transactions involving intellectual property at MGH is the MGH Intellectual Property Policy. The policy establishes the parameters for ownership and distribution of intellectual property, such as patentable inventions and copyrightable materials, and allocates the financial costs and rewards of this activity.

It also is intended to alert individuals to some of the legal and practical issues in the creation and transfer of technology that may affect them and their work at MGH.

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