During this period we file progress reports with federal sponsors. We begin contacting potential licensees as soon as possible, sometimes before the patent application is filed. The inventor's involvement in the licensing process is very important. It is the inventor's knowledge, contacts, sustained effort, and ongoing interactions with his technical counterparts in the company that closes deals and turns the invention into a product. Non Disclosure agreements .
Materials transfer agreements and evaluation agreements .
Like NDAs, these agreements are at least temporary alternatives to patent protection. They authorize companies to use chemical compounds, prototypes, biological materials and software programs within specific limits. Option agreements . The option assures the company that the technology will remain available while it evaluates the deal. Research collaboration agreements.