Daily Bulletin

Monday, November 3, 1997

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Friday's Bulletin | Previous days | UWevents | UWinfo home page

Policy 73 is approved

UW finally has a policy on "intellectual property", after two years of writing, discussing and rewriting. The president signed Policy 73 on Thursday, giving it final approval, and it's now available on UWinfo.

Intellectual property includes copyrights, patents and other legal rights, as well as such matters as credit for the authorship of scholarly and scientific papers. The policy deals with who owns ideas and creations that are developed at this university, and provides "default arrangements for revenue sharing" and a procedure for settling disputes.

It continues the longstanding principle at Waterloo -- which is strikingly different from the rule at most other universities -- that individuals, not the university, own the fruits of their work:

Except as stipulated below, it is University policy that ownership of rights in IP in works created in the course of teaching and research activities belong to the creator(s). The exceptions are:

The University normally retains ownership of IP rights in works created as "assigned tasks" in the course of administrative activities.
Owners of IP rights in scholarly works created in the course of teaching and research activities grant the University a non-exclusive, free, irrevocable license to copy and/or use such works in other teaching and research activities, but excluding licensing and distribution to persons or organizations outside the University community. Any such licensing and/or distribution activity would be authorized only by an additional license from the owner(s).
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. Participants in these research activities must be made aware of any such stipulations of the contract by the Principal Investigator, that is, the leader of the research project.

Some other excerpts from the new policy:

All contributors to scholarly works should receive appropriate recognition for their contributions. . . .
In the event of commercial exploitation of a scholarly work, all intellectual contributors to that work should be entitled to share in the proceeds in proportion to their contributions, unless the entitlement to share has been willingly waived through informed consent. . . .
Members of the University who have developed IP and intend to pursue commercialization or other opportunities, must inform the Vice-President, University Research or delegate, in advance and in writing, of the nature of the IP, and the intentions of the researcher(s) for it, so that he/she is aware of the activity and can respond to inquiries from external sources. . . .
In reporting their work, members of the University should acknowledge the University as the location at which the work was done. In the spirit of collegiality, developers of IP are encouraged to recognize the University's indirect support (such as library resources, computing infrastructure), through a financial contribution. . . .
If a textbook, written in the course of teaching and research activities at the University, is specified by (one of) the author(s) as a required course text, the author(s) must declare the conflict of interest arising from the situation. . . .
IP rights associated with the content of a thesis belong to the student, unless modified or waived through informed consent. . . .
The creation of materials required for course management and administration, such as course outlines, final exams and laboratory manuals, is considered an assigned task, and copyright for such material is vested in the University. This does not apply to more detailed teaching materials, such as course notes, for which the copyright belongs to the creator. However, any of the latter material which has been printed and distributed or made publicly available should also be available for royalty-free use for teaching and research by other members of the University.

The new policy was drafted by a committee headed by Jim Brox of the department of economics. Two full drafts of it have been to senate for discussion, and faculty councils and other bodies across campus have also made comments. A few final amendments were made after the last senate discussion of it, in June, before the provost recommended it to the president and approval was given last week.

With the approval of Policy 73, the previous Policy 42 (Patents) and Policy 61 (Computer Software) are eliminated.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Again this year, computer consultant Richard Crispin of the psychology department will be sacrificing his hair to benefit the United Way campaign. The haircutting will happen about 1 p.m. today in Humanities room 334, following a chili lunch, a 50-50 ticket draw and a contest to guess the weight of Crispin's ample locks once they're cut off. Last year, in a similar event, he lost both hair and beard to raise about $1,000 for the campaign.

As of Friday, donors on campus had come up with a total of $78,393 towards the United Way campaign. That's 54 per cent of the way to the $145,000 goal.

On to the football finals

Waterloo's Warriors defeated York 17-0 in a damp game Saturday afternoon. Jarret Smith had 96 yards rushing and Arek Bigos got two field goals for the Warriors. Down the road in London, the University of Western Ontario defeated Guelph 25-10, so it'll be Waterloo vs. Western next Saturday in the Yates Cup (Ontario championship) game.

OSAP money is waiting

"There are many unclaimed OSAP loan documents for the fall 1997 term," says Charlene Shaw, coordinator of student financial aid at UW. In other words: if you applied for a loan from the Ontario Student Assistance Program, the paperwork is in, and you'd better come get it if you want your money. "These documents should be picked up at the student awards office, Needles Hall, and negotiated at your bank before December 19, or they will become stale-dated and nonnegotiable."

Shaw adds: "If you are registered in the fall 1997 term and are picking up the second portion of your OSAP funds, you must provide your photo ID and government-issued Social Insurance card. If you are picking up OSAP for the first time, you must provide these items as well as proof of your gross income from May to August 1997."

Meeting about Bell proposal

Bell Emergis, a subsidiary of Bell Canada, is planning to open research laboratories in Waterloo and Toronto, as UW president James Downey mentioned at last week's meeting of the board of governors, and faculty members at UW are being offered more information this week. Peter Forsyth, director of the Institute for Computer Research, has called an information session for 4 p.m. Wednesday in Davis Centre room 1302.

Forsyth notes in a memo that Bell Emergis "wants to create a network of leading edge and internationally renowned R&D labs that will work in close collaboration with the Universities. . . . Bell Emergis seems prepared to fund research infrastructure such as improvements to the campus networks, workstations for graduate students/faculty, scholarships for graduate students, funds for visiting scientists, professorial sabbaticals and endowed chairs.

"Bell Emergis is interested in a wide range of research areas, including, but not limited to, all aspects of communication networks and the underlying software and hardware technology, human interface research, and the innovative use, application and content of communication networks. . . .

"Bell Emergis seems prepared to spend substantial money at the University of Waterloo, both for research infrastructure that will benefit a large number of people, as well as for more targeted research. The research agenda is being determined at this stage, so the information session provides an opportunity for researchers to help set its direction."

Events of a rainy Monday

The cashiers start the move back into their first-floor space in Needles Hall today, after several months of exile while renovations were carried out. Returning first are the accounts staff who have been working in the Math and Computer building; as of Wednesday, the cashiers themselves, who have been in temporary space on the second floor of NH, will also be open for business back on the first floor.

The pension and benefits committee meets all morning in Needles Hall, continuing its discussion of pension plan enhancements, possible changes to the sick leave and long-term disability program, pension fund investment objectives, and other such heavy stuff.

The Sikh belief in social equality will be demonstrated today at the Sikh Students Association Langar, or free kitchen, held at the Student Life Centre multipurpose room from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Traditionally, the Langar in the Sikh temple offers food to both members and visitors, regardless of social or economic status, with all sharing the same fare and sitting together in one row. Everyone is invited to the Langar, and information will be provided on Sikhism for anyone interested.

Andrew Odlyzko of AT&T Labs, an adjunct professor in UW's math faculty, will give the next Laurier Lecture this afternoon at the Paul Martin Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University. (Time: 4 p.m.) Under the title "Scholars in Cyberspace", Odlyzko will talk about "How quickly will scholarly publishing evolve? The history of other technological innovations suggests the shift to electronic publications will be rapid, but fundamental changes in the nature of scholarly communications will be much slower."

Frederick Travel presents "On Stage Alaska" -- a live performance and video presentation -- in the Humanities Theatre tonight at 7:00. Information: 745-1860.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY November 2, 1993: UW police confirm that a man with a knife has committed several robberies in the Phillip Street area and UW parking lots.

November 3, 1958: Fred "Cookie" Cook starts work as security officer for the Associate Faculties. November 3, 1970: A meeting of more than 200 people in the Campus Centre calls for improved security because of extensive drug dealing and the presence of "bums, pushers and bikers".

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
Comments to the editor | About the Bulletin | Yesterday's Bulletin
Copyright © 1997 University of Waterloo