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Intellectual Property Policy: staff guidance

This guide aims to help you understand how 果冻影院鈥檚 IP policy applies to intellectual property generated by 果冻影院鈥檚 staff.

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Introduction to 果冻影院's IP policy

Intellectual property, or 'IP', is a broad term that covers various categories of intellectual creation and assets generated by the 果冻影院 community. It does not typically include technical expertise (however specialised) or general knowledge in the field. The categories most relevant to 果冻影院 staff will typically be copyright and patentable inventions/patents.听

果冻影院 employees can (and are expected to) use 果冻影院鈥檚 IP, and take decisions in relation to it, in their day-to-day activities. For example, 果冻影院 staff can decide to publish their research (rather than, e.g., first protect an underlying invention through patenting). They can also take decisions appropriate to their role听in relation to licensing/sharing 果冻影院鈥檚 IP (such as software and databases) with others for research, e.g. sharing on an open-source basis.听

This guide aims to help staff understand how the policy will operate in a range of possible scenarios. It is not exhaustive and is for guidance only. It does not constitute policy in and of itself. The guidance is not intended to (and does not) limit, extend, amend or otherwise vary the position set out in the policy.

If you have any questions about applying the policy, contact the appropriate office listed at the end of the page.

A separate guide aims to help students and student-facing staff understand how 果冻影院鈥檚 IP policy will operate in a range of possible scenarios relating to student IP.听

Online IP training

To help staff and students understand and protect intellectual property, 果冻影院 has developed online IP training. The training contains a range of examples you can draw on to help make sense of your specific circumstances in relation to IP at 果冻影院.

Teaching materials and research outputs

果冻影院 staff own copyright in their teaching materials and scholarly materials (these terms are described in more detail in the policy).

There may be exceptions where 果冻影院 will retain ownership of copyright, e.g. if 果冻影院 commissions you to produce teaching materials for a specific purpose, e.g. for a third party or for a MOOC. See section 2.1.3 of the policy for details.听

Whatever the ownership situation, 果冻影院 also retains a right for use of these materials, so staff should be careful to recognise these rights if they license or transfer ownership of their materials to other parties.听

Copyright operates to protect the expression of ideas, e.g. in written works such as teaching materials and publications. It does not protect ideas themselves, so does not generally apply in relation to ideas or concepts, creations of the mind etc. in the context of teaching or academic scholarship. It will, however, protect against others copying the expression of the idea/concept, e.g. in the way the idea/concept is described in written documentation, or how material is organised etc.听

Using teaching materials to develop a textbook 听听

If you鈥檙e seeking to commercialise your teaching materials, you鈥檒l need 果冻影院鈥檚 permission. So if your textbook is intended to be marketed commercially, you鈥檒l need 果冻影院鈥檚 permission. Contact your Head of Department in the first instance to make this request.

果冻影院 can (and would) only refuse permission if there was a legitimate reason to do so, e.g. if the textbook undermined 果冻影院鈥檚 taught programmes or examinations in some way.

Copyright only protects the expression of an idea. So if the text of the textbook is sufficiently different in its form and content from your teaching materials (i.e. if the ideas are expressed in a different way), it would not constitute a copy of the teaching materials. In this case it would not be subject to the requirement for permission (assuming it was done outside of your 果冻影院 duties).

A colleague wishes to use your teaching materials听

If another 果冻影院 staff member wishes to use your teaching materials for their own teaching they should discuss this with you and should not use them without your consent (whether or not they contain research findings). If you let them use your materials, you may want to ask them to acknowledge your work.

Separately, 果冻影院 has a licence to use your teaching materials, as described in section 2.4 of the policy. This would typically be co-ordinated with your department/faculty.

Software, apps, source code

果冻影院 owns IP in software created by staff, as the software represents an 鈥渋ntellectual asset鈥� for the university (in the same way as a patentable invention or licensable dataset).

However, staff are encouraged to develop and use software as part of their research activity. You can decide how that software is shared with others (e.g. releasing under an open source licence), provided that there are no other restrictions on doing this (e.g. work听being done under a collaboration agreement with an external party may make different provisions for ownership of IP.)

The same applies to any programme developed by 果冻影院 staff using open source software, e.g. via GNU General Public Licence (GPL). 果冻影院 would own any IP in the new software created, but 果冻影院 (acting through staff members) will need to comply with the terms of the GPL licence, e.g. to make the new software available on an open source basis. In practical terms this will involve 果冻影院 staff members complying with the terms of open source licences.

Syllabus, curriculum and other 鈥渋nstitutional materials鈥�

The general principle around teaching materials (i.e. that staff own the copyright) does not apply to 鈥渋nstitutional materials鈥�. Institutional materials are 果冻影院-level materials used by 果冻影院 for administrative and operational purposes, e.g. to promote and manage its programmes and examinations.

Syllabi and curricula fall within this category as they describe the outline and summary of 果冻影院 programmes and individual modules etc. This does not impact on ownership of teaching materials: any teaching materials used to teach in line with any such syllabus and curriculum will still be owned by the 果冻影院 staff member.

Patents

果冻影院 takes ownership of any patentable inventions created by 果冻影院 staff in the course of their duties.

Protection and commercialisation of patentable inventions, and revenue sharing with staff, is typically managed by .

Databases created as part of your research

果冻影院 owns IP in databases created by staff, as the database represents an 鈥渋ntellectual asset鈥� for the university (in the same way as a patentable invention).

果冻影院 staff are encouraged to develop and use databases and data sets as part of their 果冻影院 research activity. You can make decisions about how those data are shared with others as part of your research activity, where appropriate (e.g. sharing through a Creative Commons platform or licence).

Preparatory research materials, e.g. notes or images created in the context of research

Copyright in materials which are developed as part of your research and are preparatory to your research output will be treated as part of your scholarly materials. You鈥檒l therefore own copyright in those materials (subject to the exceptions in paragraph 2.1.3 of the policy).

Publishing your research

果冻影院 academics can take decisions about publication of their research.

You should take care when making arrangements with third-party publishers, to ensure you鈥檙e able to retain the ability to use your own materials for academic purposes, and that 果冻影院鈥檚 license rights are respected. 听If you have any further questions about copyright in published research, the Library Services Copyright team can help.

果冻影院 has a licence to use your scholarly materials for academic, research and other charitable purposes. It has a right to sub-license these materials for these purposes only. 果冻影院 has no right to commercialise (or allow others to commercialise) your scholarly materials.

IP created outside of normal duties using 果冻影院 resources

果冻影院 will own the IP arising where:

  1. the resources used are not generally available to staff (e.g. laptops are generally available to most 果冻影院 staff, but labs are not), and
  2. the use of the resources is more than incidental to the development of the IP (i.e. the specific 果冻影院 resource played an important part in the development of the IP).

The policy does not apply to more typical everyday examples such as the development of written publications on a staff member鈥檚 laptop (although, separately, staff members should ensure they are aware of relevant policy on the appropriate use of 果冻影院 IT).

Moral rights

Moral rights are a category of rights related to copyright, which arise in certain circumstances and provide specific protections for an author, e.g. to object to derogatory treatment of their work or to be identified as author.

Moral rights typically don鈥檛 arise in relation to employee-generated works. Where you do have moral rights, you are generally free to assert these against third parties.

Taking teaching and scholarly materials with you when you leave 果冻影院

You鈥檙e free to take with you all teaching and scholarly materials that you own.

If you wish to take with you any IP or materials belonging to 果冻影院, you should discuss this with your Head of Department in the first instance. For IP, this discussion should include the option of taking a licence of the IP for academic/research purposes.

You can also continue to make use of any IP or materials owned by 果冻影院 which have been made available for use through a public access platform, in the accordance with the terms of any licence (e.g. under Creative Commons).

Individuals who are not employees or who are both students and staff members

The definition of 鈥湽秤霸� staff鈥� in the policy is broad and covers individuals in various contexts, including contractors, secondees, visitors or those on honorary contracts. Care should be taken to ensure the documentation relating to the appointment of these individuals also makes clear that the IP policy will apply.

In certain circumstances, an individual may be both a staff member and a student at 果冻影院. Typically their involvement as a student will be separate from their role as staff member, and in that case the relevant aspect of the policy will apply to the particular activity. In cases where it is not possible to distinguish student and staff activity, the default position would be to treat the individual as a member of staff. This approach (or any alternative position) should be set out clearly in any appointment documentation.

Find out more about the ownership and management of student IP at 果冻影院.

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It鈥檚 possible that IP you create at 果冻影院 may be used in the context of consultancy activity, e.g. through 果冻影院 Consultants, where the terms of 果冻影院鈥檚 consultancy policy and 果冻影院 Consultants鈥� operating arrangements allow for this.

If you鈥檙e involved with consultancy activity outside of 果冻影院 Consultants it will be your responsibility to ensure you have the right to use any IP in the context of your consultancy. The 果冻影院 policy on consultancy provides further details on private consultancy arrangements.

If you have further questions about consultancy, please contact 果冻影院 Consultants.

Rewards when IP you create is exploited commercially

Where 果冻影院 commercialises IP generated by a 果冻影院 staff member, that staff member will be entitled to a share of revenue received by 果冻影院 on the terms of 果冻影院鈥檚 Revenue Sharing Policy. In certain circumstances students may also be brought into the Revenue Sharing Policy, particularly where IP may have been jointly created with a member of academic staff.

Find out more about the ownership and management of student IP at 果冻影院.

Disagreements about IP听

Staff should seek to resolve any disputes with their department or faculty where possible. Heads of Department and Faculty Deans are responsible for 听implementing the policy and seeking to resolve disputes.

If issues cannot be resolved by your department or faculty, the matter may be referred to the Vice-Provost (Enterprise).

Artificial intelligence (AI) and IP

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and innovation is a live and complex issue that raises many questions around IP.

AI tools such as ChatGPT can create plausible answers to assignments, construct essays, and write computer code, all in seconds.

The latest information, resources and 果冻影院 guidance on using artificial intelligence in education is available on 果冻影院's Generative AI hub.

In addition to this, it鈥檚 essential that researchers at all levels are aware that inputting ideas into AI tools might constitute an IP disclosure or a breach of confidentially where we have undertaken to third parties to keep certain things confidentially. This is because AI tools might use your input ideas to create subsequent outputs, sharing your IP without either your permission or acknowledging your role in its creation.

If your IP is shared in this way, it means that your ideas have been disclosed. This could potentially make it impossible to secure a patent or other legal protections.

Example: If a 果冻影院 individual uses an AI tool to write up their notes into an appropriate style for a paper, and these notes contain new IP, this might constitute a disclosure.

Questions and contacts

Implementation of the policy at faculty level is the responsibility of Faculty Deans and Heads of Department. You should also seek to resolve questions or disagreements concerning IP at the faculty level where possible.

Overall responsibility for the policy and its implementation at 果冻影院 lies with the Vice-Provost (Enterprise), supported by the Library in relation to copyright issues.

General IP Policy support is provided via Innovation & Enterprise intellectualproperty@ucl.ac.uk

Commercialisation of IP generated by 果冻影院 staff is typically handled via .

IP may also be exploited in connection with consultancy activity via 果冻影院 Consultants Limited.

Further information

果冻影院 has developed online IP training to help staff and students understand and protect intellectual property.

果冻影院 Business have produced a helpful .

The is a great source of background information and training materials relating to IP.

The is another good source of background information relating to IP. 听

Useful links

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