Intellectual Property Ownership by the University Martha M. Taylor 09 Jul 2003 08:07 EST
I believe that in most industry environments, the company owns all the intellectual property developed by its employees and in many cases there is little financial return to the inventor although they are listed as such on the issued patents. Of course in an industry environment, employees would be full time for 12 months and would not be allowed to enjoy consulting arrangements outside their normal employment - maybe expert witnesses - but rarely anything robust. Universities provide a much more open environment for the activities of their faculty but no matter how brilliant a person is, it seems to me that they would have difficulty divorcing their thoughts, skills, and practices during consulting and summer activities from those thoughts they have during their academic employment with the university. Teaching, research and public service activities are all interrelated in some fashion and the "university paid" portion of the person's efforts constitutes the majority of a calendar year (at least you would think) . We are revising our policies here and there is confusion among faculty and some in administration (me specifically) about where the proverbial "line" is between university activity (thus university owned IP) and the freedom to go and do as you please that faculty have received over time. The proposed policy revisions are really just clarifications (from my perspective) but it seems that anytime you try to "clarify" a policy statement, folks come out of the woodwork who have never understood the policy in the first place, find themselves having violated it regularly in the past and who don't really want things to change. We have reviewed the policies at many peer institutions - some similar to us and some not so similar but all apparently successful in managing their IP portfolio. Maybe I am asking for a philosophical discussion on the topic or maybe I just want a quick answer or procedure that seems to work easily at your institution. I am not sure - I just feel compelled to ask. I don't want to draw a restrictive boundary if it is not necessary - the energy required to constantly negotiate the border lines is wasteful and really adds no value to anything - but I am seriously concerned about protecting the institution and being fair to all parties involved. I don't want to see the proposed policy "diluted" because of a lack of understanding or effective communication on both "sides" of the issue. I wish there weren't "sides" but rather an equal partnership. If it is simply a matter of educating faculty - how do you EVER get them all in the same room and receptive long enough to listen? Is it a matter of spouting off the "rules" and making an example of those who break the rules? Is is a matter of taking a deep breath and accepting the fact that the university may lose some IP because of the freedoms afforded a faculty member? Do you hire a team of scientists and patent experts to review lab notebooks to ensure that conception and reduction to practice actually occurred on university time, using university facilities and in the areas of expertise of the scientist? How do you control consulting if you should? I don't know where the idea of faculty consulting came from. We had a policy when I arrived and it has been suggested that the university and the community benefit from the consulting activities of the faculty through public service, dissemination of information and publicity for the institution. I often hear faculty talk more passionately about how much money they can make doing consulting than the benefits to the university. The policies, the culture, the administrative structure, the state laws, even the weather - are different at all the institutions represented on RESADM-L but I would bet there is enough similarity that we could share numerous stories, philosophies and best practices on this topic. I just thought that we could all discuss it for a while. Thanks. ***************************************** Martha M. Taylor, Director Office of Sponsored Programs 310 Samford Hall Auburn University, AL 36849-5131 334-844-4438 334-844-5953 (fax) xxxxxx@auburn.edu ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================