The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the University respects intellectual inventions of the members of the University. 

Scope

This is an institution-wide policy affecting trustees, faculty, staff, and students. 

Referenced Laws, Regulations, and/or Policies 

This is the University policy. 

Compliance/Policy Statement 

The University is committed to creating an intellectually stimulating environment that is conducive to teaching, learning and the creation of scholarly and professional works that are of intellectual and financial value. The University will make available resources and facilities necessary for academic staff, administrative staff, and students to develop such works. This policy will define the rights and responsibilities of the University in relation to those of the academic staff, administrative staff, and students of the University, particularly with the reference to producing such works in a digital environment. 

Definitions 

A) Classroom: Classroom is a space where instruction happens. It may be a physical classroom, a virtual platform classroom, or an outside space where faculty and students meet in relation to a course being conducted. 

B) Commissioned Items: Products or Processes that have been specifically designed, developed, or established by individual(s) contracted or paid by the University and at the express direction of a supervisor to design, develop, or establish them are defined as commissioned items. 

C) Exceptional Utilization of University Resources: When any member of the University produces a piece of scholarly or professional work or an invention by using substantial support provided by the University, they are engaging in exceptional utilization of University resources. The substantial support is defined as the resources made available to a particular member, that are not made available to other members of the community. This may include unusual reduction of teaching hours or working hours, significant institutional financial support, and free use of specialized institutional facilities not employed in typical classroom settings, that allow this member in the direct creation of the work. The use of the resources that are available to all members of the University, such as the use of institutional email, digital resources, library materials, and electronic databases is not considered the exceptional utilization of university resources. 

D) Inventions and Inventors: Tangible products such as device, machine, and instruments or intangible processes such as discovery, method, improvement that hold potential financial and commercial value to an extent that they are patentable are inventions. Those who conceive and develop a minimally-viable product or process are inventors. 22 

E) Scholarly and Professional Works: The works that have been created by academic staff, administrative staff, and students, that are considered to be of scholarly and professional value. Such works include, but are not limited to, a) publications such as books; journal articles; articles; reviews; scholarly papers; unpublished manuscripts; b) instructional materials such as course syllabi; tests; course assignments; created contents; c) media such as blogs; websites; podcasts; audio recordings; lecture videos; and d) works of art such as photographs; musical compositions; paintings; and songs. 

F) Works of Significant Value: Scholarly and professional works that hold potential financial and commercial value to an extent that they are copyrightable are works of significant value. 

G) Administrative Work: Any administrative product or process that is developed by academic staff, administrative staff or students during the course of their employment constitutes administrative work. 

Ownership 

A) By Academic Staff 

1. Inventions When academic staff, who are not commissioned, develop an invention on their own personal time without the exceptional utilization of university resources, they will own all the rights to the invention. 

2. Works of Significant Value 

• a. When academic staff are hired to teach, they are hired for their service to advance the learning of students. In precise terms, they are hired to impart knowledge and cultivate skills by delivering instruction to students, by engaging with them, by providing interactive feedback, and by assessing their learning. The scholarly and professional works in the form of instructional materials are used as instruments by the academic staff during the provision of their service to teach. Therefore, they are owned by no one else but by the academic staff themselves. 

• b. If the works of significant value embody inventions, they may be disclosed as such by the academic staff if they wish to commercialize them. 

• c. If more than one academic staff have created the works of significant value, they claim joint ownership, unless otherwise agreed among them. 

• d. Given the fact that the University does not claim ownership of the works of significant value, the academic staff grant the University a non-exclusive, perpetual royalty-free license to use them for educational, research, archival, and administrative purposes. This is essential to provide a sense of continuity in students’ learning, as it ensures that the University and other academic staff can build on the knowledge and the skills, stated as student learning outcomes of the courses, by a particular academic staff. This continuity of educational history 23 of contents, methodologies, and delivery modes is conducive to the advancement of students’ learning. 

• e. This privilege to the University, however, does not grant the University permission to use the works of significant value for commercial purposes or in another instructor’s course. The University must obtain a written consent from the respective academic staff for such use. 

3. Administrative Work Administrative Work developed by the academic staff shall be the property of the University. 

B) By Administrative Staff 

1. Inventions 

• Administrative staff who create an invention that is outside the responsibilities and the scope of their employment shall own all the intellectual property rights of the invention, unless the staff have a specified agreement with the University to be otherwise, or unless the staff create the invention during their employment with the University under the privilege to obtain grants and contracts with third parties. 

2. Works of Significant Value 

• Administrative staff who create a work of significant value that is outside the responsibilities and the scope of their employment shall own all the intellectual property rights of the work, unless the staff have a specified agreement with the University to be otherwise, or unless the staff create it during their employment with the University under the privilege to obtain grants and contracts with third parties. 

3. Administrative Work 

• Administrative Work developed by the administrative staff shall be the property of the University.

C) By Students 

Students who create an invention or a work of significant value as part of their courses shall own all the intellectual property rights, unless they are hired as employees to create such an invention or a work of significant value or administrative work. If they are hired or taken on as research assistants or researchers, working directly under the supervision of an academic staff to produce an invention of a work of significant value, the academic staff must have a written agreement with them, whether the final product is for commercialization or publication. 

Licensing Inventions

A) If academic staff, administrative staff, or student inventors wish to commercialize an invention that has been developed during their time at the University, they shall disclose the invention to the University Management. 

B) If the University Management discovers that they have engaged in exceptional utilization of university resources to develop the invention or have used a commissioned material, the University Management shall inform them of the decision that they shall not claim full intellectual property of the invention. If they disagree with the determination of the University Management, 24 they shall file a complaint in accordance with the Grievance and Non-Retaliation policy and procedures. 

C) If they agree with the determination of the University Management and still wish that the University Management assist them to commercialize the invention, they may assign ownership to the University, and enter into an agreement with the University to determine the distribution of profits, if generated. 

Review

The Board of Trustees is responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy in various offices of the University. 

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