What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property (IP) includes inventions and other creative works and/or materials that may be protected under patent, trademark, and/or copyright laws.

Do I need to worry about disclosing my invention or the technology associated with my venture to others?

Publicly disclosing the critical details of your invention/innovation can impact your ability to obtain patent protection, so you need to be careful what you share with others.

For the purposes of the I-Corps Accelerate UConn program, teams should only speak about their inventions/innovations using non-confidential information, keeping descriptions to customers and other audiences as general as possible. The curriculum and program expectations will not require a level of detail that would constitute a damaging public disclosure, nor will they require the use of a Confidentiality Agreement. Disclosure of specific data to demonstrate or prove out your idea will not be required. In general, it is helpful to emphasize what benefit your product or technology will provide, or how it will help make someone’s life easier, rather than the technical details of how your invention or technology works.

When in doubt, Technology Commercialization Services (TCS) can help you assess whether the information you want to share with potential customers reveals too much.

Do’s and Don’ts when discussing your technology

Do Discuss	Don't Discuss
Value proposition (i.e. what benefit your technology provides, for whom, and how you do it uniquely well)	How your technology solves the problem
The problem your technology solves	How your technology works
Who your competitors are, and why your technology is better than theirs	Designs/technical details
	Anything that would allow someone else to build your technology

Who owns an AU invention?

Participation in Accelerate UConn does not, in and of itself, convey rights to your invention to the University. UConn encourages entrepreneurship amongst its faculty and students, and will not seek to obtain rights to non-UConn inventions. Inventions emanating from research in University labs are typically assigned to UConn. Inventions created independently of a funded research program are not UConn owned. The AU Team and Technology Commercialization Services can help faculty and students make the appropriate determination regarding IP ownership.