{"id":1994,"date":"2023-10-30T01:43:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T01:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/otagoinnovation.cre8ive.co.nz\/wordpress\/?page_id=1994"},"modified":"2025-07-30T01:44:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T01:44:16","slug":"intellectual-property","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/commercialisation-advice\/intellectual-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Intellectual Property"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Understanding Intellectual Property for Researchers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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Learn about University of Otago IP policies and how Otago Innovation helps researchers to protect and commercialise their intellectual property<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Otago researchers are creating IP every day through research discoveries, copyright, patents, know-how and designs. If you believe your research could be commercialised for public use and benefit, the first step is to ensure your intellectual property is protected and for you to confidentially share your idea with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inventions from academia are typically in the very early stages of development and require significant investment before bringing a product to market. Intellectual property protection can provide the necessary incentive for external companies to license, invest in, or otherwise pursue such a project. Conversely, unprotected intellectual property that has been inadvertently disclosed via publication or public presentation may significantly limit the value of or preclude commercialisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first step to protecting your idea is to submit an idea disclosure to Otago Innovation, which involves providing a confidential description of your invention or development to us. The disclosure will form the basis of a commercialisation assessment and so should include any information necessary to begin pursuing protection and commercialisation activities, including sponsors of the research and the current state of development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin the process, University Staff and Postgraduate students can disclose an idea using our form <\/strong>(University login required) or contact our team. You can also learn more about intellectual property below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\nTALK TO OUR TEAM ABOUT YOUR IDEA<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Patenting Otago inventions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While there are many types of formal and informal protection available, patents are the primary protection for commercially valuable research discoveries. Patents protect your inventions for 20 years, giving monopoly rights over the strictly defined invention. For an idea or invention to be patentable it must be new (novel) and inventive. This means that the idea must not be: <\/p>\n\n\n\n