LAB NOTEBOOKS/LOG BOOKS/RECORD BOOKS :

Laboratory Notebooks are the birthplace of inventions. Laboratory notebooks (also called a journal, inventor’s notebook or log book) is used by inventors, scientists and engineers to record their invention process, experimental tests, ideas and results and observations. It is not a legal document but is valuable, if properly organized and maintained, since it can help establish dates of conception and reduction to practice. An interference proceeding, also known as a priority contest is an inter-party proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications. The information can improve the outcome of a patent or a patent contestation.

A patent grants its owner(s) the right to sue those who manufacture and market products or services that infringe on the claims declared in the patent. Typically, governments award patents on either a first to file or first to invent basis. Therefore, it is important to keep and maintain records that help establish who is first to invent a particular invention. Under U.S. law, a patent is granted to the first to conceive the idea for the invention, not the first to apply for the patent. So a laboratory notebook is essential evidence of the date of conception.

Laboratory notebook is a systematic device for recording all information related to an invention in such a way that it can be used as a key component to develop a case during a patent contestation or patent-related lawsuit.

When properly kept, the notebook is a valuable tool for the inventor since it provides a chronological record of an invention and its reduction to practice. Each entry must be signed and dated by a witness. The witness should not be someone with a conflict of interest (such as a research partner). If an inventor ever has to go to court to prove that he or she was the first to invent, then the witness would be called to the stand to testify that the signature is theirs and they signed that page on that date.