- Permanently bound with consecutively numbered pages. You should not insert, tape, or staple loose leaf pages, computer print-outs, receipts, etc. inside your notebook. Rather, such supplemental material should be noted as an entry in your notebook, signed, dated, and kept in a separate file.
- Legible and have permanent (inked) entries. Each entry should be written in ink. If you make a mistake in your entry, draw a line through that entry, then initial and date that correction.
- Initialed (or signed) and be dated. You should make entries into your notebook at the time the work is performed. Each completed page of your laboratory notebook should be signed and dated.
- Witnessed. You should have at a minimum any significant entry in your laboratory notebook witnessed. The person witnessing you notebook must understand the technology and must be someone other than a co-inventor. A good practice would be to have your laboratory notebook witnessed at least once a week (at a staff meeting).
Keeping a Laboratory Book for Inventors
Unbeknownst to many University faculty and researchers, the maintenance of good research records is critical in the patent application process and in any potential defense of your patent. In addition to keeping a separate record of copies of executed non-disclosure agreements, receipts for purchases of any materials used to make samples/prototypes, material transfer agreements, records of non-University visitors to your laboratory, dates of publications, and notes on discussions with patent counsel, a well kept laboratory notebook is essential in seeking and maintaining a patent for your invention. Though there are commercially available laboratory notebooks that you may choose to use, the minimal attributes are the same whether or not you use these pre-formatted notebooks.
Minimal Attributes of a Laboratory Notebook
The detail and breadth of the information related to your research that you enter into your laboratory notebook is of utmost importance. But, from a legal standpoint, the manner in which you log such information can be just as critical, if not more so. Your laboratory notebook at a minimum should be:
Why is Maintaining a "Good" Laboratory Notebook Important? As mentioned above, the laboratory notebook is one of the most critical, if not most critical, documents describing your invention. Your laboratory notebook may be used as a chronology of your research by both patent counsel in filing for your patent and the United States Patent Office in the issuance of your patent. Once your patent has issued, your laboratory notebook can be used to defend against litigation of your patent. And, since a patent can be litigated any time during the life of the patent (approximately twenty years from the date of conception) it is important to maintain your laboratory notebooks in a manner conducive to this duration.
