• Use bound notebooks with numbered pages, not spiral or multi-range notebooks.
• Multiple notebooks should be numbered and the time period of entries noted.
• Each project should have its own notebook or set of notebooks.
• Entries should be made legibly in ballpoint ink (preferably black). Do not use pencil or water-soluble ink.
• Each page/entry should be dated and signed by the investigator and a witness (not working on the project).
• It is the witness’s date that determines the date of invention for patent protection purposes.
• Devise a nomenclature and be consistent.
• Each experiment should be described in detail and should include a discussion of its purpose.
• The outcome of each experiment should be clearly stated along with your conclusions and thoughts about further steps.
• Record invoice numbers used for special order supplies such as peptides or special services such as DNA sequencing (a copy of the dated invoice is suggested as well).
• Record reagent lot numbers.
• Have a witness who understands the research or technology (but would not be named as a co-inventor on any subsequent patent filing for the technology) sign and date all entries.
• Date all machine-generated, non-handwritten laboratory data (i.e. computer or other device-driven printouts, photographs, etc.) and securely attach them to the laboratory notebook. If possible, a description should be written on the material provided including the significance of the result.
• If you hand transcribe data from a data generating machine you need to keep the raw data.
• Information recorded on “thermal” paper should be copied to regular paper, since “thermal” paper fades over time.

Laboratory notebook records (lab books) are one of our best sources of evidence for establishing a date of invention. In order to do this all lab books should be signed daily by the researcher and a witness and all pages in lab books should be numbered and bound so that the pages cannot removed.

The presence of data in laboratory notebooks can significantly affect UTA’s ability to assert its rights in important intellectual property by establishing a firm “date of invention”. The “date of invention” is determined by the date of the witness’s signature. In a worst case scenario, your laboratory notebooks may eventually become important evidence in litigation by establishing the date of invention and proving you were the first to invent. In litigation, high quality laboratory notebooks can produce a significant “edge” for the university, potentially affecting the financial reward paid to the institution and its inventors.