Apply by E-Mail:

1. To Apply for Inventor Certification (NIFA), the applicant has to approach the National Institute of Food and Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture. Contact details are mentioned in “Office Locations & Contacts” of this page. Or use the following given Contact Link
2. An application form is available at the following Link
3. The applicant has to fill in all the necessary details in the application form. (Incomplete applications are not accepted)
4. Make sure that the applicant has attached all the necessary documents that are mentioned in the “Required Documents” section of this page.
5. The applicant has to attach the photocopies of the required documents along with the application form while submitting.
6. E-Mail the application form and the necessary documents to the appropriate office.
7. E-Mailing address is mentioned in “Office Locations &Contacts” section of this page.
8. The applicant has to pay the prescribed fee as requested by the authority.
9. Then the application will be processed further. All the updates on the application status will be sent via SMS to the applicant’s mobile number.
10. Once the process gets completed, the applicant gets a call from the office regarding the application.
11. This entire process can be completed within 5 - 10 days or as per the timeline advised by the respective department authority.

• Application form link
• A summary of the invention disclosure.

Main office:

National Institute of Food and Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture
Location: 305-A Whitten Building
12th Street, SW, and Jefferson Drive
Washington, DC 20250
Email: bayhdole@nifa.usda.gov

Field Office:
State Leader Directory: Link
USDA Field office Service Centre Locator:Link

NOTE: Click on to the state in map to check the service centre address details.

• An inventor of the subject invention who requests to keep ownership of the invention.

• The applicant has to pay the prescribed fee as requested by the authority.

• Validity of the Certification is 1 year.

• An application form is available at the following Link

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

• This entire process can be completed within 5 - 10 days or as per the timeline advised by the respective department authority.

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.

Please remove the '&' inside the emptags during implementation. Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,

sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.gIn the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

• Contact the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to find out when the certification will be issued.

The information needed to be filled in the application form are listed below:

• Institution
• Grant Numbers
• University Record Number
• Title of Invention
• Edison Disclosure Number
• Title of Invention
• Inventors
• Signature
• Dated
• Printed Name
• Street Address
• City, State, Zip Code
• Area Code/Phone Number
• E-mail
• Authorizing Official's Signature
• Title

• The inventor certification form ensures that inventors who are allowed to keep title to inventions developed with NIFA funds are aware of their obligations to the government, such as filing for patent protection and fulfilling other requirements outlined in 37 CFR 401.9, and it also initiates USDA consultation with the grantee/contractor.

• If authorised to keep title, the applicant agrees to be bound by any requirements imposed by the above-mentioned institution, including at a minimum those that would apply to a small business enterprise under paragraphs (d)(1) and (3), (f)(4), (h), (I), and (j) of the clause in 37 CFR 401.14(a);

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

• Link
  

More information which might help people.