We focus on the legal protection of research outcomes at BUT and facilitating their use in practice. You can contact us if you want to:

• protect a new finding through a patent, utility model, or otherwise
• help find interested parties for the use of a knowledge
• receive legal assistance in the field of intellectual property (consultation, contract proposal)
• establish an innovative company based on BUT research results

The Department of Knowledge Transfer is here for you when you have an idea and are considering a research project or already have a solution that you want to protect and offer for use. Knowledge Transfer Managers at the faculties and units will guide you through the whole process and lend a helping hand.

Knowledge transfer refers to the process aimed at acquiring, gathering, and sharing explicit and implicit knowledge, including skills and competencies in economic and non-economic activities, such as research collaboration, consulting, licensing, establishing spin-off companies, publications, and mobility of research workers and other individuals involved in these activities. In addition to scientific and technical knowledge, it includes other types of knowledge, e.g., knowledge concerning the use of standards and legal regulations in which are the standards included, knowledge of real operational conditions, and methods of organizational innovation, as well as knowledge management in relation to identifying, acquiring, securing, protecting, and utilizing intangible assets.

Knowledge transfer in the university environment means transferring knowledge created in academia into practice. On the recipient side are usually manufacturing companies, but sharing can also occur with the non-profit sector and other research organizations. Currently, universities are shifting from the open science model to the open innovation model, where an intermediate layer of intellectual property protection is introduced into the classic research–publication model of knowledge, enabling users of the knowledge to gain a competitive advantage.

Commercialization of knowledge, in a narrower sense, means its practical application in exchange for financial or other compensation. Possible forms of commercialization include granting licensing or transferring of a knowledge, establishing partnerships for further development of a knowledge, or creating a new company (a spin-off) to apply the knowledge.

The Knowledge Transfer workersusually learn about new knowledge through consultations with research workers or, at the latest, through the internal knowledge report form. Each reported knowledge is evaluated for its commercial potential.

If the result of the assessment is favorable, the Knowledge Transfer workers choose the most suitable procedure and form of commercialization and seek interested parties for the use of the knowledge. If appropriate, they ensure its protection in the form of a patent, utility model, or other means. For commercially significant cases, a commercialization project is prepared where higher expenses, such as foreign patent protection, are planned and approved. During commercialization, the collaboration of the research worker, who has unique information about the technical essence of the knowledge and its possible applications, is indispensable.

The most suitable form of commercialization depends on several factors. Among the most significant are the potential market size, the level of new technology or product, and particularly the preferences of potential stakeholders.

Licensing is a suitable solution if the new technology can be applied in multiple markets and thus can be sold to multiple stakeholders. Another reason may be a lack of capacity or interest in pursuing more demanding forms of commercialization. Knowledge in the early stages of development is harder to license.

A joint research project is a common alternative where the knowledge is in an early stage of development. BUT partners with a commercial partner, resulting in knowledge tailored for practical use, often accompanied by a license to existing knowledge.

Establishing a new company can provide the highest income for all participants if successful, requiring active interest from research workers as well as entrepreneurial courage and mindset. This route is suitable if the knowledge largely relies on the reseachworkers' personal know-how. It is disadvantageous if the new company would have to compete in a market dominated by a few major players.

Employees, especially academic workers, should act in the interest of the university and in accordance with its mission. A conflict of interest arises whenever there is a doubt that the employee could be influenced by personal or private interests that conflict with BUT's interests. Clear rules for managing conflicts of interest are important because these interests cannot be objectively separated.

Typical situations include cases where BUT collaborates with a company in which the research worker is employed or holds shares, or the research worker uses university resources (equipment, working hours) for other than BUT purposes or benefits personally from BUT intellectual property.

The easiest solution is to avoid conflicts of interest. To be able to avoid conflicts, employees must be aware of them. Therefore, a research worker should be familiar with typical situations where conflicts of interest arise and keep this issue in mind during their work. However, it is not always possible to avoid conflicts of interest, whether due to objective reasons or because doing so would place unreasonable demands and restrictions on employees. In such cases, the research worker should inform their supervisor about the potential conflict of interest, as the supervisor can make an objective assessment and take measures to minimize or entirely eliminate the risk of a conflict.

Patent protection of reported knowledge is part of knowledge transfer. In the university environment, patents enable transferring knowledge into practical application. Research workers focus on science and research, the university protects the results through patents, and subsequently licenses the protected solution to companies. Without patent protection, commercializing technical solutions would be limited, as the disclosed solution would become publicly usable by anyone.

The owner of a protection document has exclusive rights to use the protected subject, grant consent for its use (via licensing), or transfer it. No one may produce, place on the market, import, store, or otherwise use or handle the product or method covered by the protection without the owner’s consent.

The protected subject can be freely used for non-commercial or experimental purposes. The owner has the right to enforce protection against unauthorized use by seeking an injunction, requesting remedy of consequences (e.g., product recall and destruction), adequate satisfaction, recovery of unjust enrichment, and compensation for damages.

Patent and other industrial protection rights apply only within the country that grants them (principle of territoriality). In the Czech Republic, patents are granted and managed by the Industrial Property Office of the Czech republic located in Prague. Similar registration offices exist in most countries. International agreements allow protection in multiple countries simultaneously, e.g., the European Patent Office grants “European patents,” and WIPO accepts international patent applications (PCT) and conducts some initial stages before the applicant proceeds to the national phase at individual patent offices. A unified international or global patent does not yet exist.

The most commonly used forms of protection for knowledge are patents, utility models, and industrial designs. Each has specific conditions, application processes, and different protection durations. Forms of protection can be combined if conditions are met.

New and innovative technical solutions can be protected by a patent, which grants exclusive rights to the solution for up to 20 years within a specific territory. Without the rights holder's consent, others cannot commercially use the technical solution, meaning they cannot sell, offer, manufacture, store, or use it for other commercial purposes. The acquired rights can be traded, sold, or licensed. Obtaining patent rights requires a significant financial investment; however, these rights represent a key value in the commercialization of the solution. Filing a patent application in the Czech Republic establishes a priority right with a one-year period, allowing time to decide whether further investment in the solution is worthwhile and if extending patent protection abroad is justified.

New and innovative technical solutions can also be protected by a utility model. The primary differences, and advantages, of a utility model are the faster, less expensive application process and earlier publication, which also means quicker rights acquisition. The rights to a technical solution can only be enjoyed for 10 years, and some countries do not recognize the utility model, or their procedures and protection conditions may vary. Filing a utility model application in the Czech Republic establishes a priority right with a one-year period, allowing time to decide whether further investment is worthwhile and whether to expand protection internationally.

An industrial design protects the appearance (design) of a product or its parts. The design must be globally new and have individual character (it should create a distinct overall impression on an informed user compared to other designs). The maximum protection period is 25 years from the date of application.

Software is generally protected by copyright law as a literary work. This form of protection is limited, as it does not cover the underlying principles (algorithms) on which the software is based. In the United States, it is common to grant patents for inventions that are not strictly technical solutions, including business methods and software. Europe, including the Czech Republic, is more conservative. Software programs themselves cannot be patented unless they are part of an invention that has a technical effect beyond standard software interaction (e.g., controlling a production line). The process of obtaining patent protection for software in Europe is complex and uncertain.

One of the requirements for obtaining a patent is its global novelty, meaning that the technical solution has not been disclosed to the public before filing a patent application. Any form of publication—whether written (scientific articles, textbooks, website posts), oral (conferences, thesis defenses, disclosure to a third party without a confidentiality agreement), or otherwise (by introducing the product that embodies the invention to the market)—could jeopardize the patent grant or lead to its eventual cancellation. Therefore, it is always advisable to file a patent application before publication. If you must discuss the invention with third parties, it is best to avoid disclosing the invention's essence and only discuss its effects. In cases of detailed disclosure, it is essential to bind the third party to confidentiality in a verifiable manner.

If the subject of the invention has already been publicly disclosed, protection can still be obtained through a utility model, which provides a six-month grace period from such disclosure. For industrial designs, a grace period of up to 12 months is permitted.

It is common for one solution or the report of an employee invention to be protected by multiple forms of IP. Following example can illustrate this. A research team developed a new device for determining location on the Earth's surface. The employer asserted rights to this discovery. Intellectual property rights protect the following aspects of the discovery:

• The technical solution in the form of a new configuration is protected by a patent or utility model.
• The device's design (appearance) is protected by an industrial design.
• The software used by the device is subject to copyright protection (text of the code), and under certain conditions, its algorithms may be protected by a software patent.
• After filing the patent application, the research worker describes the device in a scientific article, which is protected by copyright (text of the article).
• The method for manufacturing the device represents know-how of the technical university and is protected by confidentiality.

It is said that 70% of technical information is only found in patent databases. If you are looking for current information in your field, do not rely solely on scientific journals; also conduct a patent search. Novelty searches are often performed both before start of the research (to ensure the research is moving in the right direction) and before patenting research results (as novelty is a patentability requirement, a search can save costs associated with a patent application that may later be rejected).

Today, most information is available electronically, making it easy to conduct a search quickly. The most popular free databases are the European Patent Office’s ESPACENET and the World Intellectual Property Organization’s PATENTSCOPE. The Industrial Property Office’s database can also be used for some types of searches. In these databases, you can search by keywords, applicant (to see what major players in the market are patenting), inventor’s name, field classification, and other criteria. Typically, only an English abstract is available with a link to the original patent application, but you can opt for machine translation, and much can also be inferred from the drawings.