| ARE LABORATORY RECORDS
IMPORTANT?
Lab and other records are vital in obtaining and defending a patent.
The following set of rules will produce legally defensible documents for
patent protection:
1. Use a bound, pre-numbered notebook
for records, making entries on a daily basis. This format provides a
day-to-day chronology.
2. Use the notebook to record the conception of the
invention, laboratory data, drawings, and eventual reduction to practice.
Each entry should have a title, date and be continued on successive
pages.
3. Make entries in ink and do not erase; draw a line
through mistakes in the text or drawings and enter the material in corrected
form. Draw a line through blank spaces on the page.
4. Separate sheets and photographs, which cannot be
incorporated into the notebook pages, should be referred to in an entry.
5. Sign and date all entries at the time they are made,
and have them witnessed at least once a month. The witness should be
an individual who is capable of reading the material and understanding
it, yet was not involved in producing it. Additional witnesses should
be obtained when something important or highly unusual is discovered.
Remember that an inventor and his co-inventors cannot serve as their
own witnesses.
6. Set aside a time for making notebook entries and
observe it. Have two or more colleagues serve as witnesses on a regular
basis.
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