Invention disclosure
The structured internal document that records a new invention before any external patent filing.
An invention disclosure is the structured internal document an inventor submits to record a new invention before any external filing takes place. It typically captures the technical idea, the problem solved, the inventors and their contributions, the date of the invention, prior art known to the inventors, and an initial business assessment. The disclosure is the starting point for the company's claiming and filing decisions: legal teams use it to evaluate patentability and to draft the patent application. In jurisdictions with employee invention laws, the disclosure also triggers statutory deadlines and obligations toward the inventor, which makes consistent capture essential.