City of Hope's Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) protects faculty interests while advancing discoveries toward commercial development. OTL will assist with:

• The formalization and maintenance of collaborations with industrial and academic partners.
• The identification and protection of intellectual property while preserving academic values.
• The evaluation of research tools, inventors results and guidance through the patenting process.
• The transfer of discoveries and inventions from the laboratory into commercial development.
• Compliance to City of Hope policies and procedures as they relate to materials, confidentiality and intellectual property, along with input from other teams at City of Hope.
• The exploration of entrepreneurial and company start-up activities.
• Negotiating and executing material transfer agreements.

The 4 things scientists need to know about Intellectual Property:

Although intellectual property (IP) can be a very complex field, there are 4 simple things a scientist needs to know to successfully navigate in an IP–centric world.

1. If in any doubt, ask Office of Technology Transfer about an agreement or signature. For most agreements described on this site, a scientist or doctor may NOT sign them. This obligation falls to OTL.
2. Keep good lab notebooks
3. If someone from a company talks to you, please get a business card so OTL can follow-up.
4. Talk to Office of Technology Licensing in advance of any public disclosure (e.g talk, poster, paper submission) if you think may have important scientific findings or ideas.