A Guide for Inventors at INL — 2017 21 No-Fee Knowledge Transfer Certain types of IP, such as copyrighted software, copyrighted content and biological materials, are commonly disseminated to the public through ways other than traditional licensing on a royalty or revenue-generating basis. TD handles more than traditional licensing and works with staff across all departments to help disseminate copyrighted works, software, data, code, materials and research results outside INL for greater impact. Government Use, Creative Commons, and Open Source Licensing Alternate methods of transferring INL IP include: • Government/Academic and Research-Use licenses are often used for software, biological materials and data sets. Such licenses allow use by other institutions for government or academic purposes only. • Creative Commons licenses are one of several types of public copyright licenses that allow for free distribution of copyrighted work. They are often used for literary and artistic works. • Open Source licenses are often used for software to make source code freely available for commercial and noncommer- cial use under certain conditions. • Mobile App licenses are used to deploy mobile apps. TD can help inventors get access to iOS and Android developer tools and manage the submission of INL-owned apps to Apple’s App Store and the Android Market. A Guide for Idaho National Laboratory’s Authors of Software provides more details on Creative Commons and Open Source licensing. Commercialization Licensing fees and royalties produce revenue during the commer- cialization stage. Although many licenses do not yield substantial earnings, the rewards of an invention reaching the market are often more significant than the financial considerations. TD’s assessment of the IP landscape, technology market, technology risks, development costs and business environment will help determine the most appropriate route to market. TD will also help determine if the best path is through an existing company or a new startup business. Common Commercialization Questions What activities occur during commercialization? During commercialization, the development of an invention continues to enhance the technology, reduce risk, prove reliability and satisfy market requirements.This includes: additional testing, prototyping for manufacturing, durability and integrity.Training documentation and marketing materials are also often created, along with benchmarking tests to demonstrate market advantages. What is the inventor’s role during commercialization?The inventor’s role can vary depending on interest and involvement, the desire for the licensee to use the inventor’s services and any sponsored research related to the license. What happens if the licensee is unsuccessful in commercializing the invention? In the case that performance milestones are not met, license agreements can be terminated. The technology would then be allowed to be licensed to another business.