I would first review your institution's intellectual property policy to determine who is covered, how individuals are covered and when the policy applies.

Are these students conducting the lab work as students for credit or are they conducting the lab work as student employees?  If student employees then the outcome of their work would be governed by the language in your intellectual property policy.  Does your IP policy allow you to assign all intellectual property rights prior to knowing whether any IP will result from the work.  One question is would you want to assign the IP rights to a future asset of the institution when you don't know what that IP asset may be and what its value is.  You might want to use language that provides the company with an option to any IP that results from the work.

Marjorie
On Nov 1, 2011, at 2:41 PM, Martini Doyle, Alice wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

A faculty member is working with a corporate entity wherein undergraduate students will conduct lab work. The corporation is seeking complete intellectual property rights for any work discovered by these students. If anyone has encountered this type of agreement and is willing to share, I would appreciate the following information:

-IP language as applicable to undergraduates
-your institution’s stance on the IP rights (fully signing them away, sharing, not budging…)

Best,
Alice Martini Doyle
Assistant Director, Pre Award Services
Office of Research & Sponsored Projects
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
Direct Line: (310) 338-7753
Email: xxxxxx@lmu.edu<mailto:xxxxxx@lmu.edu>
ü Consider the environment before printing this email.

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Marjorie Forster
Assistant Vice President, Research and
Global Health Initiatives
Office of Research and Development
University of Maryland Baltimore
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