Frequently asked questions by UW researchers

Questions

Q1: What are the advantages of working with WatCo?
Q2: How long does it take to take to commercialize my innovation?
Q3: What is intellectual property?
Q4: Who owns the intellectual property created by researchers at UW?

Answers

Q1: What are the advantages of working with WatCo?
A1: The process of transferring research excellence to commercial or societal benefit is often a complicated and highly legalistic process that requires experienced management of the issues to exploit the full commercial potential of your innovation. Watco’s experienced professionals manage the entire process from intellectual property protection (eg patents), prototype funding and development, and implementing the chosen commercialization pathway (eg. licensing to existing companies or creating a new start-up company). Watco also leverages its access to a variety of commercialization networks to bring in specialized or additional resources as may be required to advance the commercialization of your innovation. Partnering with WatCo frees you from undertaking the time consuming and complicated navigation through the commercialization mine field thus allowing you to focus on your research while we focus on enhancing the likelihood of generating a commercial success for you.

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Q2: How long does it take to take to commercialize my innovation?
A2: No two innovations have the same pathway to market and thus the time to commercialize can vary significantly. For innovations heading down a patent protection pathway, it can take upwards of three years before a patent is finally issued. However, quite often commercialization can occur prior to patent issuance, particularly for innovations that are highly unique and differentiated from competitive alternatives where there is a high degree of confidence that the patent will eventually be allowed. Innovations that are protected by copyright (eg. software) are often commercialized quicker as there are not the same degree of intellectual property protection formalities as is the case with patents. Regardless of the form of intellectual property protection, the timing of commercialization is quite often highly influenced by: i) whether there are regulatory hurdles (eg. Health Canada approvals, ASTM standards, etc) to overcome, ii) whether a prototyping stage of development is required or not, and iii) the degree of capital investment required to develop a product or service around the innovative idea. Generally, WatCo anticipates anywhere from a 2-5 year window to achieve commercialization outcomes for most innovations.

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Q3: What is intellectual property?
A3: Intellectual Property (IP) is simply defined as any form of knowledge or expression created with one's intellect. It includes such things as inventions, computer software, trademarks, literary, artistic musical or visual works and even simply know-how.

Inventions may be protected by patent, industrial design or trade-secret. Software, literary, artistic and musical works are protected by copyright or trademark.
Types of IP protection

A basic and important provision of IP protection, particularly concerning patents, is the need NOT to pre-disclosure (ie. pre-patent filing) your ideas to any other party without first ensuing terms of confidentiality have been agreed to. In an academic environment, researchers need to be mindful that journals targeted for publication have peer-review confidentiality policies, external thesis examiners have agreed to keep information confidential, and similarly companies you may be discussing potential research contracts with have agreed to keep your ideas confidential. It is always the best practice to secure a Non-Disclosure Agreement before sharing confidential information with any third party.

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Q4: Who owns the intellectual property created by researchers at UW?
A4: Subject only to restrictions on rights specified in contract research agreements, inventors at the University of Waterloo own their inventions. In accordance with the University’s IP Policy all faculty do have the obligation to Disclose An Invention to the University. However, there is no obligation for the inventors to assign (legally transfer ownership of the intellectual property to the University) the technology beyond the aforesaid circumstances. Similarly, there is no obligation on WatCo to accept inventions for investment and commercialization support. WatCo and inventors work under a mutually agreeable partnership basis which requires IP creators to formally assign commercialization rights (not ownership rights) to WatCo in exchange for investment of IP protection costs and staff commercialization support services

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