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The draft policy, written by a committee chaired by Jim Brox of the economics department, retains UW's longstanding philosophy that most inventions, written works and other products of the brain belong to the individuals who produced them. (In that respect Waterloo is different from many other universities, where the institution, not the individual researcher or thinker, asserts ownership of intellectual property.)
But the draft also notes the contribution made by the university, and UW's right to a share of the proceeds when an idea is commercially successful (generally, 5 per cent of the income). It also introduces a new requirement for "disclosure", through the office of research, before an idea reaches the commercial stage.
It notes that "all contributors to scholarly works" have a right to recognition for their contribution -- ranging from acknowledgement in print to a share of commercial profits. A mechanism is provided for settling disputes over credit and ownership.
The draft policy is the result of recommendations last year from a Provost's Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property. Its text will be available through the secretariat's Web pages on UWinfo. Comments are being received until the end of November.
Excerpts from the draft policy:
It is University policy that ownership of IP rights in works created in the course of University-related activities belong to the creator(s). The exceptions are:All contributors to scholarly works should receive appropriate recognition for their contributions. . . . In the event of successful commercial exploitation of a scholarly work, all contributors to that work, including the University, should be entitled to share in the proceeds in proportion to their contributions, unless the entitlement to share has been willingly waived.
- The University normally retains ownership of IP in works that are created as assigned tasks in the course of normal employment.
- Owners of IP rights in works created in the course of University-related activities assign to the University a non-exclusive, free, irrevocable license to copy and/or use such works in other University-related activities, but excluding licensing and distribution to persons or organizations outside the University community.
- In sponsored or contract research activities, ownership of IP rights may be determined in whole or in part by the regulations of the sponsor or the terms of the contract.
All members of the University community, who have developed IP and intend to pursue commercialization opportunities, must inform the Office of Research, in advance and in writing, of commercialization, of the nature of the IP, and the intentions of the researcher(s) for it. This disclosure is to be made regardless of the type of IP, be it a book, software, artistic work, patent, etc.
Students are first authors of publications based on their thesis work; an administrative relation to the investigation does not merit authorship credit; financial support is not sufficient on its own to merit authorship credit.
In principle, University researchers retain ownership of their work, but where sponsored or contract research is undertaken, it may not be possible to do so. Two firm principles are that University researchers retain initial publication rights to their work, and adhere to the academic standards of their discipline.
All faculty, staff and students of the University who own copyright in works created in the course of University-related activities grant the University a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to make copies of the works on campus for the purposes of scholarly research, teaching (including distance and continuing education courses) and University administration.
In general, members of the University community may make copies of works, or parts thereof, in which the University owns copyright, or has a license to make copies by virtue of the preceding section, for use in University-related activities.
The University acknowledges that it has no direct equity in the ownership of any invention developed by a member (or members) of its faculty, staff or student body (notwithstanding that such invention might be intellectually conceived in the course of University work).
Any invention developed in the course of, or as a result of, activity involving University support and/or facilities and/or equipment, shall be subject to a non-exclusive, royalty free, irrevocable license to the University under all patents arising from the invention in the University.
Members of the University community may, at their option, submit their proposed invention to the University's Office of Research for consideration regarding possible financial and developmental assistance.
Most teaching materials are covered by copyright which is vested in the University. An exception to this right includes materials which may go beyond the requirements assigned in teaching, such as detailed course notes. In such cases, the University will normally assign copyright to the author(s) or creator(s) and, with agreement of the author(s) or creator(s), retain the right to access the materials royalty-free for use on the University campus for academic purposes.
Some materials traditionally used in the classroom may contain copyright material from other sources. It is necessary to obtain clearance from the copyright holder before these materials may be widely distributed or developed commercially.
In recognition of the principle that the University is a contributor to most projects, by default the University is entitled to five per cent of the gross revenue from commercialization.
Information sessions about funding for graduate students are happening today and tomorrow, and I got the time of one of the sessions wrong in yesterday's Bulletin. One more time: session for the faculty of arts, today at 12:30 in Humanities room 334; for the faculty of science, today at 3:30 in Biology I room 226; for the faculty of mathematics, tomorrow at 3:30 (not 4:30!) in Davis Centre room 1302.
Anne-Marie Majtenyi of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will be at UW tomorrow to provide information about SSHRC funding. A 9:30 session is about research and strategic grants; a 1:30 session is about doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships. Both meetings are in Humanities room 334. Anybody interesting in attending should check with Elaine Garner at ext. 2841 (egarner@nh2adm) ahead of time.
The teaching resource office presents a research seminar on "Using Computer Conferencing to Support Active Learning", tomorrow from 12:30 to 1:30 in Davis Centre room 1302. The speaker is Linda Harasim of Simon Fraser University, who heads the Telelearning Network of Centres of Excellence.
CAR
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