Vanderbilt's Commercialization Process: Research
Research performed by Vanderbilt faculty and staff commonly leads to new discoveries, technologies, and inventions that are protectable, usually with a patent. Patent protection may be sought for new and useful processes, machines, articles of manufacture, compositions of matter, or improvements to the foregoing. Research can also result in other forms of protectable intellectual property. Software or other tangible expressions of creative works can often be protected by copyrights. Biological materials can be patented in special circumstances, but are often licensed (transferring intellectual property from Vanderbilt to a company for commercial exploitation) without patent protection.
Many of the useful processes and methods that are developed during the course of a research project can be transferred to industry even though they may not be protected by patent or copyright. Of course, most of what is developed during research projects is academic knowledge, and publication is usually the preferred route for disseminating such results. If any questions ever arise regarding whether a technology is protectable or worth pursuing commercially, CTTC is here to help talk through such issues.
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