When a Federally funded invention is reported to TT&C, it initiates a government reporting sequence of deadlines, the first of which is to report the invention to the government using iEdison within 2 months of the inventor reporting it to TT&C. Once the report is made to iEdison, the invention’s status is set to "Under Evaluation" which triggers the "Elect to Retain Title" deadline.

The "Elect to Retain Title" deadline requires a decision within 2 years of reporting to the government. You must choose to either "Elect to Retain Title" or select "Does Not Retain Title." If you choose to "Elect to Retain Title," this event triggers the initial patent filing deadline.

The initial patent filing deadline dictates that within 1 year of electing to retain title, a patent application must be filed. If the application filed is a provisional patent application, it must be converted within 10 months to a PCT or nonprovisional application, or an extension must be requested to utilize the full 12 months of the provisional lifespan.

The 10-month period allows Federally funded research to provide the government with time to decide whether to pursue the patent instead of risking abandonment if a PCT or nonprovisional application is not filed. For non-federally funded research, the conversion deadline is 12 months following the initial filing date.