Have you come up with an invention? And are you an employee of Freie Universität Berlin?

According to Section 4 of the German Employee Inventions Act (Gesetz über Arbeitnehmererfindungen – ArbnErfG), you may have a job-related invention on your hands, if:

1. The invention was produced within the scope of an activity assigned to the employee as pertaining to her/his employment in the private or public sector, or
2. The invention is significantly based on the expertise or activities of the employee as pertaining to their employment in the private or public sector.

According to these requirements, employees at Freie Universität Berlin are obligated to notify the university if they produce an invention

Please use the following form to disclose your invention:

• Explanatory notes and important information regarding the Invention Disclosure Report (English version is coming soon)
• Invention Disclosure Report in German
• Invention Disclosure Report in English

You must also disclose inventions that you discover outside of your employment at Freie Universität Berlin to the university pursuant to Section 18 of the German Employee Inventions Act. Please also submit an invention disclosure form if you believe that you have produced a non-job-related invention. PULS will send you a statement when an assessment has been completed.

Please note that prematurely disclosing your invention through any kind of (scientific/academic) publication or other dissemination to third parties may result in your patent being denied protection, as such disclosure would be considered prejudicial to novelty. That is why any publication can only occur after the application for the patent has been filed, which is usually up to four months after the invention has been disclosed in full. Please notify us as soon as possible if you would like to publish earlier so that we can attempt to speed up the process.

• We would be happy to meet you for an advisory session. You can find a contact who can help you here.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to the Patenting Process (English version is coming soon)

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Further Information:

• Profund Innovation is the service office for promoting entrepreneurs and innovations within the Research Division of Freie Universität Berlin.
• Patents and Licenses: Protecting and Exploiting Intellectual Property (English version is coming soon)
• Findings – Inventions – Patents
• Guidelines on the Protection and Commercialization of Intellectual Property at Freie Universität Berlin
• FAQs