Intellectual Property & Innovation at UWF

Inventions are one of the most common forms of intellectual property that may arise from university research, applied scholarship, technical work, software development, and creative problem-solving. At UWF, faculty, staff, researchers, and students may develop inventions through laboratory work, sponsored projects, field research, engineering design, digital technologies, or collaborations with external partners.

Because public disclosure can affect patent rights, creators should seek guidance before publishing, presenting, posting online, sharing an abstract, discussing a potentially patentable invention with outside parties, or otherwise disclosing it publicly. Public disclosure may include publications, oral presentations, poster sessions, public seminars, theses, disclosures to individuals outside the University who are not bound by a confidentiality agreement, and certain offers for sale or public use.

What Is an Invention?
An invention includes any discovery, new and useful process, composition of matter, article of manufacture, know-how, design, model, technological development, biological material, strain, variety, culture of any organism, or any portion, modification, translation, or extension of these items. In some cases, inventions may also include certain computer programs, designs, and other technical developments.

An invention may be eligible for patent protection if it is new, useful, and non-obvious:

• New or Novel: The invention must be sufficiently different from what is already publicly known, used, or described in prior publications or patents.
• Non-Obvious: The invention must not be an evident or routine extension of existing knowledge to a person skilled in the relevant field.
• Useful: The invention must have a practical use or application.

Together, these criteria help ensure that patent protection is reserved for genuine advances rather than ordinary modifications or abstract concepts.

What Is a Patent?
A patent is a form of intellectual property protection that gives the patent owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing a patented invention for a limited period of time. In the United States, utility patents generally last 20 years from the earliest non-provisional filing date, subject to legal requirements, maintenance fees, and any applicable adjustments or limitations.

Patent protection may be available for new or improved inventions, including eligible processes, methods, devices, materials, compositions, technologies, and technical systems. In exchange for these exclusive rights, a patent application must describe the invention in sufficient detail so that others skilled in the field can understand it and, after the patent term ends, use the knowledge disclosed. In this way, the patent system both encourages innovation and promotes public knowledge.

Examples of Potentially Patentable Inventions
Patentable inventions can arise across many disciplines, including:

• Engineering: laboratory instruments, sensors, circuits, semiconductors, manufacturing techniques, filtration systems, and mechanical devices.
• Biotechnology: genetic markers, gene transfer methods, microorganisms, biological materials, diagnostic tools, and research methods.
• Chemistry: new compounds, drugs, polymers, coatings, fuel cells, formulations, and chemical processes.
• Software and Computing: data-processing methods, cybersecurity systems, networking tools, machine-learning applications, technical algorithms, and digital platforms.
• Environmental and Marine Science: monitoring systems, testing methods, remediation technologies, materials, and applied field technologies.
• Health and Human Performance: devices, assessment methods, assistive technologies, training systems, and applied clinical or wellness tools.

What Is Not Patentable?
Some subject matter generally cannot be patented. This may include laws of nature, natural phenomena, scientific theories, abstract ideas, purely mental processes, and mathematical formulas by themselves. Pure algorithms, without a practical technical application, are also generally not patentable. However, practical applications or technical improvements based on those concepts may sometimes be patentable.

Who Is an Inventor?
An inventor is a person who makes a meaningful intellectual contribution to the conception of an invention. Inventorship is a legal determination based on contribution to the inventive concept, not simply on job title, authorship, supervision, funding, routine technical assistance, or general participation in a project.

Because an invention may have more than one inventor, all individuals who may have contributed to the inventive concept should be identified in the disclosure so their roles can be properly reviewed.

Inventorship vs. Ownership
Inventorship and ownership are related, but they are not the same.

• Inventorship determines who must be named as an inventor on a patent. It is based on who contributed to the conception of the invention claimed in the patent.
• Ownership determines who holds or controls the legal rights to the invention. Ownership may depend on employment responsibilities, use of University resources, sponsored research obligations, external agreements, assignments, and UWF policy.

As a result, an individual may be named as an inventor on a patent, while the legal rights to the invention may be owned, assigned to, or managed by the University or another organization. For specific ownership rules, creators should review the official UWF Intellectual Property Policy or contact the appropriate University office for guidance.

Copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the expression of an original idea once it is fixed in a tangible form, such as a written document, recording, image, video, software code, or other captured format.

For UWF faculty and staff, copyright may apply to works created through teaching, research, scholarship, creative activity, software development, training, and University-supported projects. These may include articles, books, presentations, course materials, instructional content, videos, artwork, music, software, and other original scholarly or creative works.

Copyright gives the owner exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, display, perform, and create derivative works from the original. Protection generally arises automatically under U.S. law once the work is created and fixed in tangible form. Registration is not required for copyright protection to exist, but registration with the U.S. Copyright Office may provide additional legal benefits.

Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. For example, copyright may protect an article, lecture, figure, image, or recorded presentation, but it does not protect the underlying facts, procedures, systems, methods, formulas, discoveries, or devices described in the work.

Under UWF policy, ownership depends on the nature of the work, the creator’s role, and the level of University support involved. Traditional Works of Faculty Authorship are generally owned by the creator, while Works Made for Hire and certain University-supported works are generally owned by the University. Instructional materials and electronic courseware may be treated differently depending on the circumstances of development and the level of University support. Faculty and staff should consult the UWF Intellectual Property Policy and Research Administration and Engagement (RAE) for guidance on ownership, disclosure, and use.

Examples of Copyrightable Works

• Books, articles, reports, manuals, and lectures
• Software, source code, and related documentation
• Music, recordings, and audio works
• Plays, choreography, and performance materials
• Photographs, graphics, illustrations, paintings, and sculptures
• Films, videos, animations, and recorded lectures
• Course modules, presentations, handouts, and online learning content

What Copyright Does Not Protect

• Ideas or concepts
• Facts or factual information
• Procedures, systems, processes, or methods
• Formulas, discoveries, or devices
• Titles, names, slogans, or short phrases
• Public domain materials

A trademark is a word, name, symbol, design, or combination of these used to identify and distinguish the source of goods. A service mark performs the same function for services. Trademarks and service marks help the public recognize the source of a product or service and distinguish it from others in the marketplace.

In a university setting, trademarks may include names, logos, slogans, symbols, program names, and other identifiers associated with the institution, its services, or its activities. Trademark protection helps preserve the distinctiveness of these identifiers and prevents others from using confusingly similar marks in a way that could mislead the public.

Trademark strength often depends on distinctiveness. In general, marks that are arbitrary, fanciful, or suggestive are stronger than marks that are merely descriptive, while generic terms are not protectable as trademarks. A mark must be used consistently and appropriately to function as a source identifier. If a mark becomes generic over time, it may lose trademark protection.

A federally registered trademark generally remains in effect for 10-year terms and may be renewed as long as the mark remains in use and applicable legal requirements are satisfied.

For more information, visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

• Patents: uspto.gov/patents
• Trademarks: uspto.gov/trademarks

Disclosure Forms

Use the appropriate form based on the type of intellectual property:

• Invention Disclosure Form — for inventions, processes, devices, technologies, methods, software-related inventions, or potentially patentable discoveries
• Work Disclosure Form — for copyrightable works, including software, instructional materials, written content, multimedia, artistic works, or other original materials

Feel free to visit our Disclosing Inventions and Works page for more information.

For anyone with questions about UWF Intellectual Property policies or in need of a consultation, please email research@uwf.edu.

For initial discussions, please fill out and include the Intellectual Property Disclosure Questionnaire (Word) in your email.

For invention disclosure, please fill out and include the Invention Disclosure Form (Word) in your email.

For work disclosure, please fill out and include the Work Disclosure Form (Word) in your email.

Non-Disclosure / Proprietary Information Agreement Template

• Intellectual Property Policy (pdf)
• Electronic Courseware Addendum (pdf)
• Student Intellectual Property (pdf)
• Employee Code of Conduct, Outside Activity and Conflict of Interest (pdf)

For faculty, the UWF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida negotiates collective bargaining agreements that also have relevance to the creation of inventions and intellectual property.

Collective Bargaining

For general background on intellectual property and technology transfer, please see:

Inventor Hub