187-A:34 Statement of Purpose. The general court recognizes the numerous benefits to the state's economic base from the establishment of businesses by inventors and the numerous benefits provided by inventors which include industrial diversification, broadening of the economic base, a great proliferation of jobs, providing financial benefits to our citizens through a greatly expanded tax base, and new products and processes for the nation's consumers. A great number of inventions are never authoritatively considered primarily because inventors are unfamiliar with the business environment or financial structure necessary for implementing their proposals. The general court, therefore, recognizes a need to encourage and assist inventors and, at the same time, to position this state as a leader in advanced and high technology and to foster a climate for those leaders of this state, the nation and the world.
187-A:35 Program Established.
I. A program to provide assistance to inventors shall be established at the industrial research center at the University of New Hampshire at Durham. The center shall develop, implement, publicize, and operate the program within the limits of available resources and in a manner which will give greatest effect to the purposes of the program. In so doing the center may charge a reasonable fee for proposals submitted. The administrative head of the program shall be the executive director of the industrial research center. The administrative head shall be responsible to the oversight committee established in RSA 187-A:32.
II. With the prior approval of the committee, which approval shall include the affirmative votes of both senate and house representatives on that committee, the administrative head may elect to provide services to specific inventors or persons with intellectual property for the purposes of assisting such inventors or persons in the development of the invention or intellectual property. The assistance may include limited patent searches, patent applications, copyright registration, market analysis, product or process research and development, assistance in obtaining financing, including financing from private sources, and business counseling. The administrative head shall establish guidelines relative to the provision of services and governing the choice of services offered to individual persons, which guidelines will be approved by the committee.
III. No offer of assistance made by the center under this section to any person shall be taken to create a contractual obligation, either express or implied, on the part of the center to do any act or thing on behalf of the person.
187-A:36 Annual Report. The center shall submit an annual report on or before December 31 of each year to the governor, the governor's executive council, and the oversight committee established in RSA 187-A:32. The report shall include statistics for the following:
I. Proposals submitted for review and evaluation.
II. Proposals accepted for development and the number rejected.
III. Products receiving patents.
IV. Products developed to the commercial stage.
V. Jobs created and preserved as a result of the manufacturing, marketing, packaging, warehousing, and distribution of products.
187-A:37 Inventors Assistance Program Fund. [Repealed 2002, 254:5, VI, eff. July 1, 2002.]
