CIRM Patent Assistance Fund Application – UCI
Grant Award Details
Grant Type:
Grant Number:
PA1-06938
Investigator(s):
Award Value:
$46,155
Status:
Closed
Grant Application Details
Application Title:
CIRM Patent Assistance Fund Application
Public Abstract:
The Office of Technology Alliances (OTA) at UC Irvine is comprised of 12 full-time staff including seven licensing officers and 4 support staff with an average of 10 years of experience in technology licensing (industry & academic). We have access to hundreds of UC approved patent law firms to accomplish the filing, prosecution, and issuance of patent applications worldwide. To gauge the potential of CIRM IP, the licensing officers discuss the invention in detail with the inventors. We have a prior art search completed to help determine the patentability of an invention. Additionally, the licensing officers utilize their own contacts in the field, those of the inventor(s), and pursue new contacts with companies that may be interested in licensing CIRM funded inventions. Feedback from our marketing efforts provides us with an indication of commercial potential. We create non confidential summaries and post them to our website and other websites to ensure broad announcement of the invention. Our licensing officers regularly attend industry meetings in the stem cell field to both broaden our contacts with potential licensees and also to stay current regarding the state of the stem cell field. License agreements include diligence requirements that are consistent with the development and commercialization pathway for a given technology. Licensees are required to report their progress in developing and commercializing the licensed intellectual property on a regular basis.
Statement of Benefit to California:
The broad protection of intellectual property for CIRM funded inventions will add significant value to the IP portfolio that is ultimately licensed and developed into a new disease treatment. Our office has a limited patent budget and can rarely support worldwide patent protection for a given invention. This can have the effect of limiting the invention's appeal to a commercial partner. The patent fund will provide a resource for us to create a more valuable IP portfolio and increase our likelihood of securing a development partner. This, in turn, would provide value to the State of California and its citizens in the following ways: (i) increased likelihood that a disease treatment invented under CIRM funding would be developed into a therapy available to Californians, (ii) favorable economic impact resulting from the treatment of that disease, (iii) additional potential for the creation of startup companies in California which would translate into additional jobs, and (iv) increased revenues from the commercialization of CIRM funded inventions, which is shared with the State of California.