First of all, it depends on where you are doing your work. You should understand that because patents may represent extremely valuable property rights, most universities and companies have specific patent policies governing the ownership of inventions made by a faculty member, a student, or an employee. Such policies may also provide specific procedures about how inventions are to be handled, the person or persons at the university or company you should be dealing with, and possibly under what circumstances patent applications would be prepared and what rights the inventors may have. Smaller colleges may not have any patent policies. In all instances, your first contact should be your faculty advisor or the head of your department.

Sometimes you may think it is a maze without end, but basically you need to carry out these five steps: