Funding Your Start-up

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Every start-up founder hopes one day for their project/technology to succeed, reach the market, and quite often improve patients’ lives. Funding is just one of the critical hurdles in the early stages. The following list will explain just a few of the many sources of investment. Bootstrapping: Sometimes the best source of funding for a small business can be its entrepreneur(s). Bootstrap financing is starting a business with minimal capital mostly provided by a person or group of people from the start-up team. This often includes dipping into savings, retirement, personal loans (including home equity), or accessing credit cards. This Read More …

Inventor Becomes Patient: My Tool Was Like a Trusted Friend Telling Me What Was Wrong

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Ernest V. Garcia, PhD, or better known as Ernie, is an endowed professor in cardiac imaging and the director of Emory’s Nuclear Cardiology R&D Laboratory. He specializes in medical imaging and bioinformatics, particularly quantitative analysis of cardiac images. Ernie has received numerous awards and honors but to highlight a few he was named a Medical Imaging Industry Top 10 Nuclear Medicine Researcher by the Medical Imaging Magazine and was named to the Council of Distinguished Investigators of the Academy of Radiology Research. What lead you to pursue cardiac imaging as part of your profession? I was trained as a scientist, Read More …

The Ever-Confusing World of Contract Lingo – Part 2

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

While much of OTT’s work deals with the review, protection, and management of the inventions made by our faculty, there is a whole other side that is of equal importance: negotiating contracts with industry, be it for licenses, clinical trials, collaborations, sponsored work, or confidential discussions. Just as the world of patents has its own set of jargon and terms, contracts do too. Below we’ve compiled a helpful list of some common terms you may encounter in contracts. You can find part 1 of this blog here. Common Contract Terms & Concepts Continued Representation: A fact that one party states Read More …

The Ever-Confusing World of Contract Lingo – Part 1

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

While much of OTT’s work deals with the review, protection, and management of the inventions made by our faculty, there is a whole other side that is of equal importance: negotiating contracts with industry, be it for licenses, clinical trials, collaborations, sponsored work, or confidential discussions. Just as the world of patents has its own set of jargon and terms, contracts do too. Below we’ve compiled a helpful list of some common terms you may encounter in contracts. What is a Contract? At its most basic, a contract is a binding legal agreement voluntarily entered into by two or more Read More …

IP Jargon: What are they talking about? – Part 2

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

When beginning the process of protecting your invention, lots of industry specific terms and legal jargon get thrown around and can seem a bit daunting. To help ease you into the world of intellectual property protection, OTT has collected and defined some of the most common words and phrases that you’re likely to come across. In this two-part post, we’ll discuss jargon heard in patent statutes and applications and during the patent review process and a patent appeal (Part 1 can be found here). In this part we will cover jargon often heard during the patent review and appeal processes. Read More …

IP Jargon: What are they talking about? – Part 1

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

When beginning the process of protecting your invention, lots of industry specific terms and legal jargon get thrown around and can seem a bit daunting. To help ease you into the world of intellectual property protection, OTT has collected and defined some of the most common words and phrases that you’re likely to come across. In this two-part post, we’ll discuss jargon heard in patent statutes and applications and during the patent review process and a patent appeal. In this part we will cover jargon found in patent statutes and applications. Patent Statue Jargon Statutory Subject Matter: Something that can Read More …

The Magic of Science and How TMS Saved Me

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

I used to hate magic shows. Nothing frustrated me more than trying to figure out how the guy removes the beautiful woman from the box on stage, only to wow the audience moments later by revealing her—in the flesh—sitting in the theatre’s balcony with a big smile on her face. Magicians will never tell you their secrets, they will never disclose how the rabbit got in the hat, much less how he pulled the poor thing out of it. The stock answer, if ever asked, is a smug, “It’s just magic!” Many years ago I attended a magic show where Read More …

It Started in My Basement, Now it Improves Patients Lives

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Charles M. Epstein, MD, or “Chip” as he’s been known since childhood, is a professor of neurology specializing in epilepsy and the founder of  the Laboratory for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). He is also a co-inventor for the technology that is utilized by Emory partner Neuronetics, Inc in their NeuroStar TMS Therapy® for treating depression. Neuronetics has safely administered more than 10,000 NeuroStar TMS Therapy® treatments with clinically significant results: among patients studied, 54 percent responded to the therapy and 33 percent found their depression in remission. Neurostar wasn’t the first technology you were involved with. Could you tell us Read More …

Case Managers’ Reflect on Their Time with TMS

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

OTT’s first disclosure from Charles “Chip” Epstein, MD related to his work with an iron core stimulation coil was received in the spring of 1995, with a second disclosure related to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coming along in late 1997. These were not only the early days for the technology but also the early days of our budding Tech Transfer office. The technology looked promising since it was both the first magnetic stimulator to utilize an iron core design which enabled improvements in power efficiency, heat generation, focal stimulation, and costs. Recognizing these benefits, OTT decided to pursue patent protection Read More …

The 12 Days of Christmas OTTer Style

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

On the first day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, A new disclosure form On the second day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Two patent applications On the third day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Three new blog posts On the fourth day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Four featured innovations On the fifth day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Five Licenses to sign! On the sixth day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Six new start-up projects On the seventh day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Seven Read More …

Navigating the U. S. Patent Process

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Getting Started: The Provisional Patent Application There are multiple avenues to consider when filing a patent based on the specifics of the situation and the inventors. The first available option (and the one most used at universities) is a provisional application. The importance of provisional patents stems from the patent system’s usage of a first to file system, which dictates that the first party to file a patent for a technology, rather than the first party to invent the technology, is granted the rights for the invention. Unlike a non-provisional patent application, a provisional application is not examined and does Read More …

Anatomy of a Patent Application

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

One of the most common ways to protect certain types of inventions (like medical devices or new chemical compositions) is through patenting. This guide quickly explains the parts of a United States patent application which is filled through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Generally, patents are divided into seven sections. The sections are as follows: Title Background: A description of the problem the invention hopes to solve, along with information on any previous inventions of a similar function (prior art). Summary: A concise description of the claims. Description of Drawings: A list of drawings that appear within Read More …

Six Things to Know About Copyrights

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

There are plenty of myths and confusion around copyright law. Many people aren’t sure what a copyright covers and how it differs from other types of intellectual property (IP) protection like patents or trademarks. Although a blog is too short to go into all the specific details of copyright law, we hope to hit a few key highpoints here and help clarify what a copyright is and its function. A copyright differs from a patent or trademark in that it protects an original work of authorship. A patent protects functional inventions or discoveries and a trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, Read More …

Tech Transfer Jingle Bells

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Dashing through the lab In my new lab coat Cleaning pipettes I go Can’t find my lab notebook Filling out the disclosure Making spirits bright What fun it is to laugh and sing A tech transfer song tonight … [Chorus] CER reports, CER reports Triage all the way Oh! What fun it is to write these Every single week CER reports, CER reports Triage all the way Oh! What fun it is to write these Every single week Dashing through the prior art Please no public disclosures First to file I go God please let it be enabled Useful, novel, Read More …

Quick Reference of the Common Types of Intellectual Property Rights

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

“Intellectual property” or “IP” generally refers to exclusive rights granted to owners under U.S. intellectual property laws to a variety of intangible assets covering creations of the human mind. Common types of IP rights include copyrights, trademarks, patents (utility, plant, and design patents) and trade secrets. Type of Right What it Protects How to Obtain Copyright Original works of authorship, including writings (including computer software) music (including any accompany words and/or music), and works of art (e.g., pictorial, graphic, and/or sculptural works) that have been tangibly expressed Copyright exists immediately and automatically when the work is created, that is, when Read More …

What do Those Extra Letters Mean? Professional Designations in Technology Transfer

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Many members of our team carry additional letters behind their names that you’ve probably seen, like PhD, JD, or MBA. But what do the others, like CLP and RTTP, mean? These are certifications and designations attained by those in the technology transfer and licensing fields. They are administered and distributed by the professional societies our team members participate in, such as the Licensing Executive Society and the Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals. These designations represent a certain level of proficiency and experience in our field. They also add an additional layer of credibility for our academic and industry partners. Here Read More …

Inventorship: Who is an Inventor?

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Inventorship could be the million-dollar question. In a university setting where collaboration is commonplace – who qualifies as an inventor? Most scholars understand “authorship,” but this concept shouldn’t be confused with “inventorship.” Being listed as an author on a journal article discussing the invention does not automatically make one an inventor on the patent itself. As a rule, an inventor is one who has contributed to the “conception” of an invention. Whereas someone working at the direction of another, using routine skill without making a conceptual contribution, is not an inventor under U. S. patent law. Credentials, such as degrees Read More …