I am posting this question on both RESADM-L and TECHNO-L, so I
apologize to those individuals who subscribe to both!

 I need to know how other institutions handle the issue of faculty
engaging in (or initiating) outside business activity which is directly
related to their responsibilities as a faculty member. I have a
faculty member who says that "everybody is doing this at other
institutions", so hopefully someone can help me.  Perhaps a hypothetical
case would help:

 A basic science faculty member is hired for educational, research
and service duties.  The faculty member proposes to take 2 months
vacation time (or maybe sabbatical time) and set up a small business which
will apply for an SBIR grant (phase I) to develop biomedical educational
materials for courses similar to those being taught by this person at our
institution. Presumably some of these materials may even be used by this
institution (either as gifts or as purchases), but these materials
presumably will also be sold to other institutions.  After the 2 months
vacation time, the faculty member proposes to return to work, but if the
SBIR is funded, the required 51% of his/her effort would be paid for by
the company and the remainder by the institution.  That is, he/she
presumably would go to a part-time faculty status for the period of the
SBIR and then return to full-time status at the end of the SBIR.

 In addition to the possibility of conflict of commitment, I am
concerned about intellectual property issues.  For example, once this
"door is opened", what is to prevent anyone with a patentable idea from
setting up a small business and claiming that the invention/discovery was
made while working at the small business, rather than while working at the
institution?

 This issue suggests another question.  How much of a faculty member's
time does an institution "own"?  Does it "own" 24 hours per day or only 8
hours/day?  Should activities a faculty member engages in (including
establishing a business related to the scope of his/work for the
institution) during the 16 hours/day he/she is not working at the
institution be of any concern to the institution?  My initial thought
would be that if it were not, it would play havoc with institutional patent
policies, since all valuable intellectual property would probably be
conceived or committed to practice during those hours the faculty member
was not working at the institution.

 Does anyone take the position that anything invented/discovered by a
faculty member which is within the scope of his/her employment must be
assigned to the institution regardless of when (nights, weekends or
vacation) or where (home or mother-in-law's garage) it is invented or
discovered?  How tenable is this position?

 I hope that someone can provide some wisdom to help me sort out
these issues. THANKS!

Doug Wilkerson, Ph.D.           VOICE:  (419) 381-4252
Assoc. V.P. for Research        FAX:    (419) 381-4262
Professor of Pharmacology       e-mail: xxxxxx@GEMINI.MCO.EDU
Medical College of Ohio
3000 Arlington Ave.
Toledo, OH 43614