Georgia Patent Assistance for STEM Students (PASS)
Embedded Files
The Georgia Patent Assistance for STEM Students (PASS) program is a component of the Georgia Science & Engineering Fair that seeks to provide support to students and their families in obtaining patents for worthy projects. The primary component of Georgia PASS is the Young Inventor's Award, which is facilitated by the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance® and was most recently sponsored by Founders Legal®, an IP law office in Atlanta, Georgia.
Background
Many GSEF exhibitors conduct high level research. Previous GSEF award winners have gone on to attend prestigious universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and MIT, and many are currently working on solving the challenges facing our world in areas such as public health, energy, and the environment.
Generally, inventors only have ONE YEAR after “public disclosure” of their work to file a U.S. patent application. (Exhibiting at a Regional Fair counts as public disclosure.)
Obtaining a patent can cost researchers up to $20,000. Most GSEF participants have neither the financial resources nor the know-how to complete this process.
Many GSEF exhibitors know little about IP protection and may not realize that their research may already be patentable.
Structure
Facilitated by the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance®, a law office sponsors the GIPA Young Inventor’s Award and provides patent application assistance to deserving student.
A deserving student exhibiting a qualified project at GSEF is selected to receive the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance Young Inventor’s Award. Following GSEF, student works directly with GIPA and the law office to receive assistance in completing and filing the patent application.
Candidates may be identified and selected via:
1) submission of a GIPA Young Inventor’s Award application;
2) nomination by a Regional Fair Director; and/or
3) recommendation by GSEF review team.
The sponsoring law office is encouraged to send patent attorneys to the GSEF event to assist in the selection of winner(s). GSEF and GIPA will assemble a qualified judging team with expertise in patent law drawing from UGA resources and industry experts. Final selection will be made by designated judging team.
Thank you to the Young Inventor's Award sponsors:
GIPA Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance ®
The Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance (GIPA) improves society with a global model for the most efficient and effective IP ecosystem, facilitating the creation, protection & enablement of ideas that service the common good.
Founders Legal®
Founders Legal® is a boutique law firm with award-winning attorneys and professionals in Atlanta, Nashville, and D.C., serving clients from growth stages to multinational enterprises. We provide tailored and strategic advice to help clients identify, plan, and secure their intellectual property rights. Our intellectual property legal services include assistance with patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights.
Benefits
Winning students will be protected from having other entities profit off of their research/invention.
Patent status may create opportunities for winning student to receive necessary funding for continued research.
All students (regardless of whether they receive a patent) will be better informed or aware of the patent process and may be further encouraged to take more ownership of and pride in their work.
May enhance/encourage other sponsorship opportunities and improve GSEF experience for all students.
Participating law offices will have the opportunity to be involved in and acknowledged for supporting STEM achievement and innovation in Georgia.
May serve as a model for other states or regions, benefiting young researchers globally and positioning the state of Georgia to be an international pioneer in the area of patent assistance for pre-collegiate science and engineering research.
Award Criteria
PATENT ELIGIBILITY
Project constitutes patentable subject matter (process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any improvement thereof).
PATENTABILITY
Project is novel, non-obvious, and useful.
PRIOR FILING
Project has not previously been submitted to the USPTO; researcher does not seem to have standing relationship with another attorney.
IP OWNERSHIP
Research for the project was not conducted at or in conjunction with an institution that owns the rights to the researcher’s IP.
PRIOR DISCLOSURE
The project was not publicly disclosed (including social media) prior to August 2020.
CHARACTER
Researcher demonstrates enthusiasm about project and interest in pursuing a patent; maturity; independence in conducting research. Likelihood of future success.
CONCEPT
Concept is well-defined; research is comprehensive and reasonably developed.
COMMERCIALIZABLE
Concept has likely chance of forming a commercial product.
Regional Fairs - please nominate patentable projects for the GIPA Young Inventor's Award on your Projects Advancing to GSEF spreadsheet.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse