Bring your idea to life in collaboration with Medtronic. If you (hereafter also referred to as "Submitter") have not yet protected your idea by intellectual property (e.g., by filing a patent application) but you want it to be protected, we recommend that you seek legal advice before proceeding with your Submission (i.e., the information you input to this website). By continuing with the submission process, you confirm that you have protected your Submission by intellectual property or you do not want to protect it, and you can start by sharing non-confidential information about your idea here. Please do not include any confidential information of your own or any third party (e.g., your employer) in your Submission. Medtronic will then assess your Submission for many criteria, including novelty, magnitude of the unmet need, and potential impact on patients and physicians, fit with Medtronic’s capabilities and strategy. If your Submission meets Medtronic’s criteria, we will reach out to you discuss next steps how we can explore your idea in more detail. This may include an expert project team to be assigned to work on your Submission to move your idea from the virtual space into its physical form, and possibly into a Medtronic product.

Medtronic will be under no obligation to treat any information provided in the Submission as confidential, regardless of any legend or statement contained therein or set forth with respect thereto or any other agreement. In case Medtronic after the initial evaluation of the non-confidential Submission is interested in obtaining additional information under confidentiality, Medtronic and Submitter may conclude a separate confidential disclosure agreement at a later stage to protect such additional information.

Submitter represents and warrants that:

1. Submitter is of legal age;
2. Submitter is the sole owner of the Submission, or is expressly empowered to represent all other owner(s) of the Submission;
3. Submitter has not included any confidential information of Submitter or any third party (e.g., employer of Submitter) in the Submission;
4. the Submission is not subject to any confidentiality obligations;
5. there are no conflicting agreements that restrict the submission, assignment, sale, or license of rights (including, without limitation, patent rights) in the Submission to Medtronic;
6. Submitter has not filed and has not authorized a third party to file a request for nonpublication under 35 U.S.C. 122(b) for any US patent application related to the Submission; and
7. Submitter has appropriate legal rights to submit the Submission and has the authority to grant the rights to Medtronic that Submitter grants herein.

In case Submitter breaches the representation and warranty under f), Submitter hereby grants Medtronic, its affiliates and its designees a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, unrestricted, non-exclusive, fully-paid up and royalty free license to make, use, offer for sale, sell, and import into the United States, and otherwise commercially exploit the US patent referred to under f).

Medtronic shall own exclusive rights, including all intellectual property rights, to any work it creates or has created from the Submission or a similar idea of its own.

For any portion of the Submission included in a pending patent application and/or granted patent, filed in the United States and/or another country (jointly in the remainder referred to simply as “patent”), Submitter acknowledges that Medtronic has no obligation to license such patent as a result of the Submission, Medtronic has no obligation to provide comments or feedback on the validity or scope of coverage of such patent in connection with the Submission, Medtronic has made no statement or given any other indication that such patent has any relevance to the Submission or any current or future Medtronic products, and Medtronic has not provided any promises, commitments or guarantees that Medtronic will purchase and/or license such patent.

Submitter understands and acknowledges that Medtronic is engaged in extensive research and development activities and there is a possibility that the Submission is similar to a submission by someone else, or subject matter developed independently by or for Medtronic. Submitter also understands and acknowledges that many inventions in the medical device industry are not patented and/or are not patentable, are generally known in the industry and/or are in the public domain. Also, many other inventions are covered by patents and are therefore owned by others. Submitter understands and acknowledges that the Submission may already be in the public domain or owned by someone else even if Submitter is not aware of such facts. Submitter also understands and acknowledges that Medtronic retains all rights and privileges to develop, improve, and market technologies and products which are competitive or similar to the Submission, and nothing herein implies or constitutes a covenant not to compete.

Submitter acknowledges that Medtronic is under no obligation to use any information submitted in the Submission. Submitter acknowledges that Medtronic may not respond to the Submission. Submitter agrees that the Submission may be permanently retained by Medtronic for archival record-keeping purposes.

Submitter agrees that Medtronic may evaluate the Submission in any manner at the sole discretion of Medtronic. Any analysis, test data, report, or other information developed by Medtronic during the evaluation will be the property of Medtronic, and may or may not be fully released to Submitter at the discretion of Medtronic. Submitter agrees that suggestions made or information provided by Medtronic with respect to the Submission shall be owned solely by Medtronic.

Submitter agrees that Submitter will receive no compensation from Medtronic for the Submission and for any assistance Submitter provides to Medtronic in evaluating the Submission.

Submitters agrees that this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota, without application of any conflicts of laws provisions thereof. This Agreement forms the entire agreement between the parties for the Submission and evaluation of the Submission. This Agreement applies to the original Submission and to any future material(s) submitted by Submitter in course of Medtronic’s evaluation of the original Submission. This Agreement may not be amended except in a writing signed by both parties.