For Inventors: Keeping a Laboratory Notebook
A laboratory notebook is, as you know, a scientific document. It details all of the experiments you have tried and all of the steps you have taken to validate your work. Your laboratory notebook is also a valuable legal (evidentiary) document that can assist in the drafting of patents, in determining issues of inventorship, and in proving dates of concept (invention), among others. This section will describe, in brief, how to prepare your notebook, practices to follow, and practices to avoid if your notebook is called on as evidence.
The F.I.R.E. Series has covered the topic of Laboratory Notebooks twice. Please see the presentations from 10 January 2008 and 21 January 2004 for additional information on this topic.
- Physical characteristics of a successful laboratory notebook
- Practices to follow in a successful laboratory notebook
- Practices to avoid in a successful laboratory notebook
- What a laboratory notebook might be used for
Laboratory Notebook Guidelines
The Notebook
- The notebook must be permanently bound.
- The pages must be pre-numbered to prevent the later addition or deletion of pages.
Recommended Practices
- Make all entries in permanent ink.
- Never erase, erradicate, or remove errors. Cross out mistakes with a single line so that the erroneous entry is still legible. To be safe, initial and date the strikeout.
- Date each entry. Dated entries should appear in chronological order.
- Account for all space on a page. If a large portion of a page needs to remain blank for some reason, draw a diagonal line through the space and write "This page/section intentionally left blank. Initial and date.
- Likewise, account for all time during experiments. Offer explanation for large gaps of time. For example, a week’s vacation, properly notated, will attract no undue attention; however, a six-month gap in your records will likely be used against you in court to refute your notebook’s validity (not to mention drawing into question your own diligence in performing the experiments).
- Identify all participants and observers. Describe the role each one has played in the experiment, as well as in the inventive process.
- Permanently attach all printouts and photos to the notebook page. Sign and date.
- Define all abbreviations and acronyms.
- Index and cross-reference related documents within the text of the description.
- Write each entry in language that is understandable to a person of normal intelligence. It is assumed that the reader will have a passing knowledge of your field of research.
- Write each entry with sufficient detail to enable a person skilled in the art to grasp the importance of your findings.
- Write each entry with sufficient detail to enable a person skilled in the art to reproduce your results.
- Provide detailed description of experiments and resulting data. Do not offer personal opinions or speculate too braodly on the results.
- Sign and date each entry.
- Have a witness sign and date each entry. The recommended format is: “Read and Understood by:”. Remember: One witness is required. Two or three are better.
- Whenever possible, have your witness(es) observe the actual experiments being described in the notebook.
- Record all discussions with collaborators and colleagues. Hopefully, these conversations will also be cross-referenced in their laboratory notebooks, as well.
Practices to Avoid
- Avoid making any comments harmful to the University or your own cause.
- Avoid using words like “obvious” or “prior art.”
- Avoid personal opinions or speculations.
- Avoid offering opinions or statements relating to patent infringement.
- Do not make erasures, use liquid paper, or completely obscure errors.
- Do not add or remove pages from the notebook.
Uses for a Laboratory Notebook
- Drafting a Patent Application. Reading your laboratory notebook might give a patent attorney a better understanding of your invnetion. This will result in a better written patent application.
- Determining Inventorship. An accurate record of who did what when will make it easier for a patent attorney to determine whose contributions rise to the level of inventorship. See our discussion on inventorship for additional information.
- Eliminating or Creating Prior Art. In the United States, the first person to invent something patentable is entitled to a patent. A proper laboratory notebook is useful in establishing priority. If you can prove that you conceived of a patentable idea first and were dilignetly working to reduce the idea to practice, you are entitled to a patent. This proof is nearly impossible without a proper laboratory notebook.
- Winning an Interference. Whenever a patent application is deemed to be infringing on another, co-pending application (or granted patent), it becomes the subject of an interference. Once in interference, all patent prosecution ceases while attention focuses on who was the first to invent. A proper laboratory notebook may provide you with proof that you were first to conceive of your invention. This could allow your application to proceed with prosecution, or protect your application or patent from a later filer.
Disclosure Forms
Invention Disclosure Form
A document that embodies the date of conception of, a complete description of, and all potential contributors to an invention being disclosed to the University of Rochester.
Copyright Disclosure Form
A document that embodies the date of creation of, a complete description of, and all potential contributors to a copyrightable work being disclosed to the University of Rochester.
Software Copyright Disclosure Form
A document that embodies the date of creation of, a complete description of, and all potential contributors to a copyrightable computer soft-ware program being dis-closed to the University of Rochester.