Intellectual Property Portfolio
- Cougar Gold Cheese
- US Plant Patent for WA 38 and the Trademark COSMIC CRISP
- 20+ Licensed Wheat Varieties
- Microwave Sterilization and Pasteurization Technology
An invention may consist of new plants, new biological material, new machines, new compositions, or new methods.
Protecting new inventions takes time, effort, and money. The first step in this process is filing a WSU Invention Disclosure. Points to consider before filing a WSU Invention Disclosure include the following:
- Stage of Development, Development Cost and Time: Innovations early in development may need significant resources to reach a commercially viable and valuable point.
- Patentability: Inventions are assessed based on novelty, non-obviousness and usefulness.
- Impact: Whether the technology is groundbreaking or game-changing, and its adaptability.
- Market Breadth and Size: Whether a technology is appropriate for niche/small markets or widely useful.
The process of protecting an invention has many steps and does take some time to complete. The earlier you submit your invention disclosure, the faster our office can make a determination and begin the assessment process.
Intellectual Property at WSU
Intellectual property (“IP”) describes certain rights in creative works, inventions, and useful discoveries. IP practically takes the form of patents, copyrights, and trademarks. The College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences at WSU uses IP to protect innovations developed at WSU and to disseminate commercially relevant knowledge from academia to industry.
IP exists to protect expressions of knowledge and to allow the creator to safely share expressions of knowledge. Whether that expression is an oil painting, a chemical compound, or a complex machine, knowledge from these expressions provides a basis for future ideas. Creating IP is one way WSU distributes the knowledge created here to improve society as a whole. The value of IP was identified long before the foundation of WSU. In forming the United States, the Founding Fathers recognized that creative works and inventions contribute to the overall advancement of society by providing both social and economic benefits. While many Constitutional draft provisions were highly contested amongst the Founding Fathers, the IP provisions put forth by James Madison and Charles Pinckney were undisputed. And so, Congress was given the power…
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
U.S. CONST. Art I., Section 8, CI. 8.
This clause remains the basis of U.S. patent, copyright, and trademark laws that protect IP.
A brief explanation of each type of intellectual property and exclusive rights
Patent
Patents give rights to inventors in their new and useful discoveries. Patents are used to protect a new and useful process, machine, [article of] manufacture, or composition of matter. By describing their invention in a patent application, inventors can receive a limited-time monopoly on their design in exchange for publishing every detail required to make the invention work. These monopolies are granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or one of many international agencies. After time passes and the patent monopoly expires (about 20 years), the invention becomes part of the public domain, and anyone may produce it. In this way, patents allow inventors to profit from their hard work while also allowing society to benefit from the idea. Examples include new apple trees, medicines, airplanes, recipes, and microchips.
Copyright
Copyrights give rights to authors in their original creative works. Copyrights are used to protect creative expressions that are written, recorded, sculpted, or otherwise fixed in a tangible medium by an author. Distinct from patents, copyrights protect creativity rather than functionality. Examples include publications, song lyrics, software code, sculptures, architectural designs, choreographed dances, and other creative expressions.
Trademark
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of a good or service. Trademarks allow businesses, universities, and others to create and use distinctive marks as a tool to build recognition in the mind of consumers. Trademarks protect the use of those distinctive marks so consumers can reliably use them to identify goods. The crimson and gray WSU logo seen on signs and buildings and the illustration of a cougar seen on our merchandise are two examples of trademarks used by WSU.
Exclusive Rights in Intellectual Property
Just as landowners have the right to improve their land and keep others from trespassing upon it, IP owners have the right to stop others from using or selling their inventions or art. By granting licenses, IP owners can allow others to make or use their IP, similar to a land lease. Like selling a parcel of land, IP owners can also outright sell the right to use their invention, creative work, or trademark. WSU uses IP licenses and sales to partner with businesses, helping us turn IP created here into fully realized new products and services you can use.
Last Updated 9/27/2023