Default ownership of Intellectual Property in research?

tremens

Would anyone know about who the legally default owner is for Intellectual Property (including copyright) that arises from university research? Particularly self-funded or scholarship funded work in which there is no written agreement between the parties.

Thanks.

AceHi

The owner of IP in copyrighted work is usually the creator unless the work was done in the course of employment etc. however a university would have the right to retain all research a student completes for legal purposes. If you gave more info I could answer your question better, are they using the research in a way that you do not want or do you just want to retain/use the research in your own right?

tremens

I want to retain the copyright so that I can open source it (software), as it's of enough benefit to others not to have it be filed away in a drawer for all eternity, yet probably not commercialisable.

The university's guidelines for intellectual property state that research IP belongs to them, but there is a form in the guidelines which they say all researchers have to sign to agree to this, and I have never been asked to sign it, which is why I'm wondering who the default owner is.

It could be argued that I'm making use of university assets to do the research, however the research is all my idea, my writing and my software.

Offy

tremens wrote: »

I want to retain the copyright so that I can open source it (software), as it's of enough benefit to others not to have it be filed away in a drawer for all eternity, yet probably not commercialisable.

The university's guidelines for intellectual property state that research IP belongs to them, but there is a form in the guidelines which they say all researchers have to sign to agree to this, and I have never been asked to sign it, which is why I'm wondering who the default owner is.

It could be argued that I'm making use of university assets to do the research, however the research is all my idea, my writing and my software.

Publish and be damned. :rolleyes: Uni ownes the IP normally.

Sham_Lad

All IP rests with the University.

However; If you can get the University Research office to sign the rights over to you (fat chance), you can use it.

There may be a clause in the research policy that if the University does not file a patent on the invention after such a date, it can revert to you.

Now the tricky bit. If you've published the idea in a paper, thesis, public lecture, etc... the IP is considered public and a patent can't be filed.

You have a choice: publish or patent. University folks are so anxious to publish that many potential patents (and millions in research Euro's) is thrown away time after time.

Carawaystick

There's a fundamental difference between copyright and patents or trade secrets.

There's also a fundamental difference between first to file and first to invent for patents between Europe and the USA.

I don't think there's any specific trade secret law in Ireland.

The creator of a work owns the copyright unless it is given away by some contract written, verbal or implied

you could data protection act request for a copy of any contracts you've signed with the university to see where exactly you stand as you haven;t signed an explicit release.

AceHi

It really comes down to the contract between you and the uni. Although you didn't actually sign the document, there could be a clause in the student handbook which states that all IP rests with the uni, if this is so, you are bound by it. If there is no such clause, I would say it is arguable that the copyright in the software lies with you. But that would be a lot of work, how much do you want it? I would say contact the research department and ask them what contract did you enter which assigned your rights to them. See what they come back with. Maybe there is none, in which case they may give you the software. It all really depends on what they come back with. It might be worth your while to contact the free legal advice center or a solicitor.