To What Extent are University IP Policies Legally Binding? Part 1: Staff

Abstract

All universities and other research organisations (for brevity, the term “university” is employed, and refers not just to a university, but to all forms of a non-for-profit research organisation) have intellectual property (IP) policies. Like other policies, they serve an important function, stating the university’s position upon diverse matters ranging from conflicts of interests, to paid outside employment by academic staff, and from campus security to the use of the university’s libraries.

But university IP policies go further than just stating a policy. They seek, by force of the policy alone, to change where the ownership of IP lies. This article describes the legal basis for IP policy in the US, Australia, United Kingdom and Canada with regard to staff in Universities.

Keywords: Universities, research, IP, University IP, IP policies