| An appropriately maintained laboratory notebook can often
mean the difference between gaining recognition for a discovery or not.
U.S. Patent Law states that inventorship is determined by the first to
invent, not the first to file. (Foreign patent offices determine
inventorship by the first to file method.) Your lab notebook is the key
piece of evidence in helping to make that determination.
The laboratory notebook should establish a permanent record which can
be referred to while completing a disclosure report and provide an
accurate documentation of the work done. When a researcher makes an
invention, the date of conception and reduction to practice become very
important. Generally, a sketch and a brief written description are
sufficient to establish conception. Reduction to practice can be
established only by the actual construction and successful testing of a
device incorporating the invention.
Issuance of identical patents, initiate an interference proceeding to
determine which party was the first to invent. Each party has an
opportunity to submit documentary proof of his/her dates of conception and
reduction to practice. A laboratory notebook will be the crucial piece of
evidence in this procedure.
Notebook entries should be made in ink, using a standard laboratory
notebook having permanent pages. Write legibly and identify entries with
respect to the particular project for which the work was done. Include all
formulae or diagrams and sketches of circuits and equipment which were
considered during the project, including the ones actually built and
tested. Accompany each diagram and sketch with an explanatory note
sufficient to identify and explain the subject matter.
Another investigator should be able to replicate the invention by
looking over your entries. The notebook should allow one to determine the
nature of the project, when it commenced, what ideas were considered
during the project, the compounds made or circuits and equipment actually
built and tested, the results of the tests, the dates for each of the
above and the final conclusions.
Even though you might not keep a laboratory notebook in ideal fashion, the
entries may be valuable at some future time provided certain simple
safeguards are observed. The following comments may be helpful to avoid
the more common mistakes:
- Identify the project to which all data relate. If possible, indicate
the project or experiment number, or at a minimum give a brief
descriptive heading;
- Entries should be dated consecutively. At least one other
investigator, not a coworker or joint inventor, should regularly look
over the entries and witness the same by signing and dating the
notebook pages;
- In general, avoid fragmentary diagrams or sketches, or diagrams or
sketches without explanatory notes. Draw circuit diagrams, for
instance, as comprehensively as possible, using blocks or similar
notations to indicate conventional parts;
- Avoid loose pages or inserts carrying sketches or other information.
If a sketch or note is made on a loose piece of paper, and you wish to
place it in your book without making another entry, permanently affix
it in the notebook, and have its placement witnessed by another
investigator;
- When two or more investigators are working on the same project, they
should not split entries between two or more laboratory books. One
book should be complete in itself. When two or more investigators are
making entries in the same book they should initial and date their own
entries;
- Make notations of the progress and completion of compounds,
assemblies, or models being prepared for testing. Relate these entries
to previous sketches or entries that explain how the compound or
equipment is being made;
- Successful testing of a compound or particular setup or piece of
equipment is "reduction to practice" and the date of such
accomplishment is important. Make notations of such tests, identifying
the compound or equipment, and commenting on the results of the test.
Give tabulated test data, if available. Avoid unnecessary derogatory
remarks about tests;
- Avoid erasures. If an error has been made, it is better to cross it
out and make a new entry;
- Photographs are useful in keeping a complete laboratory notebook.
Particularly where a model has been made and successfully tested, it
is desirable to take one or more photographs which will serve as
future identification. Permanently paste the photographs into the
laboratory book, and give the date and identification, as well as the
name of the photographer;
- Never tear or cut out pages from a laboratory notebook.
- Keep laboratory notebooks in a safe place when not in use.
SUMMARY
- Use permanent ink
- Use consecutive pages
- Date entries
- Identify subject matter
- Include sketches, diagrams, etc.
- Explain sketches, diagrams, etc.
- Photos, drawings, etc. should be identified and attached
- Avoid erasures
- Make new entries, do not alter existing entries
- Have entries witnessed on a daily or weekly basis
- Provide proper storage
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