Professor Wim van Ooij Submits 100th Invention Disclosure

"No one else is even close,” says Dan O’Neill, associate director of UC’s Intellectual Property Office (UCIPO). “A more typical number is 5 to 10 for someone who has been here for 20 years or so.”

Just what is an invention disclosure?

“Invention disclosures are how UC inventors inform us that they believe they have invented something worthwhile,” says O’Neill. UCIPO reviews it and looks at how the invention can be best protected, perhaps by filing a patent application. Usually they file for a US patent, but some applications are filed internationally — which can be quite expensive.

Patent laws vary around the world, but it is crucial that researchers apply for a patent before announcing their invention. According to UC’s Intellectual Property Office, a patent is a right granted by each country in exchange for a complete disclosure of an invention. The disclosure is initially a confidential disclosure to the patent office which later becomes a non-confidential disclosure to the public at large. By law, in order to be patentable, an invention must be novel, useful and not obvious to a person skilled in the field of the invention. Of the three, non-obviousness is the most difficult hurdle.

A professor of materials science in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, van Ooij leads an active research program in coatings, corrosion and corrosion protection. He co-founded ECOSIL Technologies in 2003 to develop his academic inventions into commercial products. He holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the University in Delft, The Netherlands, and has held several academic and industrial positions in Europe and the United States. He is author or co-author of more than 350 publications and a holder of more than 50 patents.

“Here’s a hard-working professor with an army of grad students with close ties to industry and a successful spin-off company, ECOSIL,” says O’Neill. “The company is growing, too. Its name comes from ecology + silanes. There are many types of coatings to deal with corrosion. The problem is that many of them contain substances that are bad for the environment, like chromates. ECOSIL’s coatings are environmentally friendly.”

Read about Dr. van Ooij 

Read about UC’s Intellectual Property Office 

Read about ECOSIL