Exploring Legal Invention Disclosure

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Exploring Legal Invention Disclosure

    Legal Invention Disclosure streamlines the patent application and review process within ServiceNow, including optional inventor rewards and involvement of outside legal counsels. It is installed as part of the Legal Simple Intellectual Property plugin and facilitates structured creation, submission, review, and processing of invention disclosures leading to patent filings.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Structured Request Process: Inventors can create and submit invention disclosure requests through a guided workflow, ensuring consistency and completeness.
    • Inventor Rewards: Optional monetary rewards can be configured to automatically recognize inventors at various patent process stages.
    • Outside Counsel Integration: Enables setting up outside law firms and counsels to review and approve patent application requests, improving collaboration and expertise involvement.
    • Automated Task Workflow: The system manages review cycles, clarifications, approvals, matter creation, and patent filings, with seamless communication between patent fulfillers, outside counsel, and inventors.
    • Patent Repository Updates: Automatically generates and updates records with patent filing and grant information, maintaining a centralized patent data repository.

    How It Works

    • Install the Legal Simple Intellectual Property application to enable Legal Invention Disclosure.
    • Configure outside firms and counsels, enable them for collaboration on patent reviews.
    • Inventor submits a disclosure request, which is reviewed by patent fulfillers who can request clarifications or approve/reject.
    • Approved requests lead to creation or linking of a legal matter and initiation of the patent filing process.
    • Outside counsel reviews and files the patent application, communicating status updates via email that are tracked within ServiceNow.
    • Patent filing details and outcomes (granted or rejected) are updated in the legal matter and patent repository.
    • Configured inventor rewards are automatically generated and sent at relevant stages, including after filing and patent grant.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Ensures a transparent, auditable, and managed workflow for legal invention disclosures and patent applications.
    • Improves collaboration between inventors, internal patent reviewers, and external legal counsels.
    • Automates administrative tasks and reward processes to reduce manual effort and improve inventor engagement.
    • Maintains comprehensive records of patent applications and outcomes for better intellectual property management.

    Learn more about Legal Invention Disclosure through a sample workflow and review the benefits it can provide.

    Legal Invention Disclosure overview

    Legal Invention Disclosure streamlines the process of patent application along with the review process and optional rewards for the inventors. Legal Invention Disclosure is installed when the Legal Simple Intellectual Property plugin is installed.

    Legal Invention Disclosure benefits

    Table 1. Legal Invention Disclosure benefits
    Benefit Feature Users
    Structured process to create and submit Legal Invention Disclosure requests. Create a Legal Invention Disclosure request sn_lg_ip.patent_fulfiller and sn_lg_ops.legal_user
    Optional monetary rewards granted to the inventor at selected stages of the patent application process. Set up optional inventor rewards in Legal Invention Disclosure sn_lg_ip.patent_fulfiller
    Inclusion of outside counsels to review patent application requests. Set up Outside Firms for Legal Invention Disclosure

    Set up Outside Counsels for Legal Invention Disclosure

    Legal Invention Disclosure workflow

    The Legal Invention Disclosure configuration workflow is as follows:
    1. Install the Legal Simple Intellectual Property application to automatically install Legal Invention Disclosure.
    2. Set up and add outside firms.
    3. Set up and add outside counsels from the respective firms.
    4. Enable outside counsel.
    5. Set up optional inventor rewards.
    The Legal Invention Disclosure task workflow is as follows:
    1. Inventor creates and submits a Legal Invention Disclosure request.
    2. The patent reviewer or fulfiller reviews the request.
    3. If any clarifications are required, the patent reviewer or fulfiller sends the request back to the requester, who updates the request and returns it.
    4. The fulfiller either approves the application and initiates the filing process or rejects the application and closes the request.
    5. The fulfiller creates a matter from the request or adds the request to an existing matter if a similar request already exists.
    6. The fulfiller proceeds with the application. After that, as configured, a reward for the inventor is automatically generated and need to be sent to the payroll to process and send to the inventor.
    7. Add an outside counsel to the legal matter and enable the patent fulfiller to communicate with the outside counsel for reviewing and processing the Legal Invention Disclosure requests.
    8. The fulfiller emails the details of the request to the outside counsel.
    9. The outside counsel reviews the request.
    10. The outside counsel, after approval, files an application with the patent authority. If the request is not approved, the outside counsel informs the fulfiller and the fulfiller closes the request.
    11. The outside counsel responds to the email and provide the details of the patent filing to the fulfiller. The details will be available for the fulfiller in the activity stream to take necessary actions.
    12. The fulfiller updates the legal matter with the patent filing information.
    13. A Patent Repository record is automatically generated with the relevant patent filing details.
    14. If a reward for the inventor has been set up for this stage, it is automatically generated and sent to the inventor.
    15. The patent authority reviews the patent request and the outside counsel informs the fulfiller about the result of the review through email.
    16. If the patent is granted, the fulfiller updates the legal matter with the patent information and closes the request. The Patent Repository record is automatically updated with the information. If the patent application is rejected, the fulfiller closes the request.
    17. If a reward for the inventor has been set up for this stage, it is automatically generated and sent to the inventor.