Protect your research results

When you are thinking about protecting your research results there are two considerations. The first one is how you can legally register your intellectual property rights as a researcher, and the second is how you should present and publish your research results.

The first task, i.e. legally protecting your intellectual properties, is something you should attend to if you are planning to use your discovery commercially at some point. Under the heading Agreements and patents we explain what you should be considering in this regard.

Patenting and publishing – but not publishing and patenting
Once you have decided to use your research commercially you will be rather cautious about how you present and publish the results. Before you protect these results, avoid presenting details of your research in writing – or even verbally – at conferences etc. The same applies to compilations on posters and roll-up banners. If you wish to eventually patent your research you should thus not reveal any details of your research results in any context before a patent application has been filed. Publication renders later patenting impossible, as the results will then no longer be deemed a novelty. In order to be a novelty, the research results must not already be known. We thus recommend arranging patent management before publishing the results.

Another good idea is to enter into a confidentiality and collaboration agreement with the people you need to involve in your research work.

Contact us at SLU Holding regarding publication and how to protect your research results at the earliest possible stage of your research.