Patent Policy Committee records
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains the records of the Patent Committee of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1941 to 1983. The bulk of the collection is comprised of 240 patent applications and associated correspondence submitted by various scientists in association with WHOI. Files have been maintained on all the reviewed inventions from this time period regardless of whether or not they were eventually patented. The other sizeable component of the collection consists of patent agreements signed by WHOI employees between 1945-63 and 1976-77. The remainder of the collection is comprised of the Patent Policy Committee’s general files. They include: minutes from patent committee meetings from 1963-83, both general correspondence from 1963-82 and correspondence with the Office of Naval Research from 1968-81, DD882 reports from 1970-79, information on patent policy, and various clauses from 1967-75.
Dates
- 1941-1983
Language of Materials
The records are in
English.
Access
Restricted: materials may only be viewed by the Office of Origin of with permission of the Archivist.
Use
Copyright: Permission to publish material from the collection must be authorized by the Institution Archivist.
Historical Information
An official patent Policy committee did not actually come into existence until 1963. Prior to that date, inventions and patents seemed to be handled by the Director on an individual basis. As stated in a memo by Paul Fye dated 29 Nov. 1963, “The policy of WHOI with respect to the handling of inventions and patents has not been revised since World War II. At that time each employee executed a formal agreement with the Institution for the handling of any patentable ideas.” Although some new employees were required to sign formal agreements, this practice was not consistently enforced.
In 1951, a committee on inventions and patents made recommendations to the Executive Committee concerning proposed policy. After consulting members of the scientific staff, a patent policy was adopted as set forth in a memo by Director Edward Smith dated 8 July 1952. In 1959, an ad hoc committee was formed to review the existing patent policy; however, according to David Scott in 1962, the WHOI patent policy was still not in publishable form. Scott presented a revised draft of the patent policy on 11 Sept. 1963, which was subsequently approved on 9 Oct. 1963.
This 1963 policy required the establishment of a standing Patent Policy Committee appointed by the Director and consisting of 3 members of the Research staff and 1 member of the Administrative staff. The committee was responsible for reviewing all inventions presented to it and determining whether it was in the best interest of the Institution to pursue a patent. The committee was also responsible for recommending whether the patent application should be handled by the Institution itself or by a patent management agency. Furthermore, it was the responsibility of the Committee to ensure that all required agencies were kept informed of patent activities and to make any future recommendations concerning policy as needed. The initial committee, appointed for 2-year terms, consisted of S.T. Knott, K.E. Schleicher, and R.G. Walden, with N. T. Allen as Executive Secretary to the Committee.
Extent
14 boxes (6.75 linear feet)
Overview
The WHOI Patent Policy Committee records are comprised of patent applications and associated correspondence submitted by various scientists, patent agreements signed by WHOI employees, and the Committee’s general files.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into three series with the Patent Agreements series further divided into 2 subseries:
Other Finding Aid
An Excel spreadsheet listing all the patents in this collection, their WHOI #, title, primary and secondary inventors, date of submission, and date the patent was granted if done so has also been created in conjunction with this finding aid.
Custodial History
The custodial history of the collection is unknown.
Acquisitions Information
Deposited on 19 July 1993 by Hartley Hoskins, Network Group Leader and member of Patent Policy Committee starting in 1983.
Separated Material
The collection was reduced from 9 boxes to 6 by removing duplicates and transferring WHOI tech reports to the circulating collection.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Marisa Hudspeth, with the aid of Melissa Lamont and Lewis Nasikias, from September 4 to September 20, 2002. Finding aids were completed by Marisa Hudspeth on September 27, 2002.
Staples and paper clips were removed and, where necessary to preserve the creator’s original intent, were replaced with plastic paper clips. Original newsprint and telegrams were replaced with photocopies to prevent acid migration. Photographs were placed in protective plastic sleeves for safe handling.
- Title
- A Guide to the Patent Policy Committee records, 1941-1983
- Author
- Marisa Hudspeth
- Date
- September 27, 2002
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written inEnglish
Repository Details
Part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Data Library and Archives Repository