All UW System faculty members, staff, and students are encouraged to bring inventions to WiSys. For research involving federal funding, university policy and federal law require that inventions arising from research must be disclosed to WiSys, the designated patenting and licensing office for the UW System.
The benefits of patenting an invention through WiSys are:
- Patent costs and legal fees for accepted disclosures are paid by WiSys
- Patents are a method of publication
- The experienced intellectual property managers guide inventors through the patenting process; their goal is to file the best patent possible while reducing paperwork for researchers
- WiSys licensing managers have excellent industry contacts and years of experience negotiating contracts that work for both inventors and companies
- License agreements provide income to the inventor. WiSys is one of the few technology transfer offices that shares income with inventors based upon gross income received; that is, no deductions are made from the inventor's distribution for WiSys office administration or other overhead costs
- Inventors' departments also benefit from licensed inventions
- Patenting is a method for translating an inventor's work into a product that will benefit society
- Patent holders have the ability to prevent abuse or misuse of their inventions and research
- WiSys has the resources to defend its patents
WiSys Royalty Revenue Sharing Program
WiSys shares the royalty revenue from licensed inventions with UW System inventors and authors based upon the gross royalties received.
The following is a general description of the WiSys royalty revenue sharing program:
Inventor's Share
The inventor(s) receive 20 percent of gross royalties. Payments are made to the inventors in the month following the receipt of the royalty payment.
Campus Share
The inventor's campus receives 40 percent of the gross royalties generated by licensing of the invention.
WiSys and UW System Share
Only after payment of the inventor's share and campus share does WiSys and the UW System begin to recoup their costs. WiSys receives the next 25 percent to cover expenses, and the remaining 15 percent goes to the UW System for its costs associated with the technology transfer initiative. Once WiSys has been reimbursed for its costs, the money retained by WiSys will begin to grow an endowment for the benefit of the UW System campuses.
