Inventor Portal
One of the Cooper Innovation Center (CIC) functions is to protect both patentable and unpatentable ideas and/or conceptions relating to products and processes developed by personnel of the health system.
At the time of their employment, Cooper employees come under the Cooper University Health Care Policy requiring the assignment of Intellectual Property to The Cooper Health System. This policy provides that all ideas and/or conceptions made by the employee will be disclosed as soon as practicable to The Cooper Health System.
Intellectual property is a broad term which encompasses the various intangible products of the intellect of inventors. These include patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, know-how and other proprietary concepts, including an invention, scientific or technological development, and even computer software and genetically engineered micro-organisms.
Whether an invention is patentable or not depends upon many factors. U.S. and foreign patent laws specify that any person who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter may obtain a patent. The scope of this includes chemical formulations, methods, devices, purified and isolated chemicals, and genetically altered life forms. In general, anything made by a human and the process for making it, may be patented. There are certain types of things that cannot be patented in the U.S. These include theories, ideas, plans of action, results, methods of doing business, printed materials, and discoveries of the laws of nature of scientific principles. However, to meet the U.S. standards of patentability, an invention must be novel, useful, and non-obvious. "Novel" means that the invention is new and was not known, sold, or used by others, nor was it patented or disclosed in any printed publication. "Useful" means that the invention must have a functional purpose and be operational. "Non-Obvious" means in general that the differences between the invention and the prior art must not have been apparent to those skilled in the art. In general, under the Patent Policy, employees should send the CIC disclosures of ideas they may have for any new apparatus, systems, methods or processes, or compositions of matter. It is one of the functions of the CIC to determine, through "novelty searches" in the United States Patent Office and otherwise, whether or not a disclosure appears to embody patentable subject matter.
Invention Disclosure Procedures Guide (PDF)
Please review the Inventor Portal Instructions (PDF) to assist in disclosing your invention via the Inventor Portal.
Inventor Portal: https://cooper.inteum.com/cooper/inventorportal
IP Policy
The purpose of the Cooper University Health Care (Cooper) Intellectual Property Policy and Procedures is to enable Cooper to develop new knowledge and to facilitate the practical application of such knowledge by licensing intellectual property to industry and others for the public benefit as befits the mission of Cooper, while at the same time recognizing all Cooper inventors and authors and encouraging timely and open dissemination of their work through publication or oral presentation. Full Intellectual Property Policy and Procedures document (PDF) provided below.
Intellectual Property Policy and Procedures (PDF)
CIC Proof of Concept Fund
Pending.
External Funding Opportunities
Coming Soon.