INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY Update Delete



Southern Adventist University recognizes that research and creative activities are integral functions of a university. The University encourages such activities by the faculty, staff and students, and recognizes its responsibility to see that creative and scholarly works are administered for the best interest of all parties concerned, including the public.

Southern affirms that the creator of intellectual property should have maximum freedom with respect to the creation consistent with obligations to Southern and other legal entities as established by the Faculty Affairs Committee. All intellectual property produced at Southern by faculty, staff, or students is covered by this policy. Intellectual property shall consist of, for example and without limitation: inventions, creative works, patentable subject matter, teaching resources, copyrightable materials, audiovisual materials, photographs, software, trade secrets and trademarks. No intellectual property is specifically excluded.

Policy

In general, in the case of scholarly works, created without the use of substantial University resources, such as faculty-authored books (including textbooks), articles, manuscripts, plays, writings, musical scores and works of art, the University cedes copyright ownership to the author/creator. In the unlikely event that the University and the author/creator cannot reach a satisfactory agreement with regards to whether a particular work will involve substantial University resources, the matter shall be referred to the Faculty Affairs Committee.

For the purposes of this policy, “substantial University resources” includes but is not limited to:

  1. Use of university equipment, services or resources not available to all faculty or staff
  2. Release time or sabbatical
  3. Use of student labor, other than incidental use
  4. Extensive un-reimbursed use of major university laboratory, studio or computational facilities or human resources. The use of these facilities must be important to the creation of the intellectual property; merely incidental use of a facility does not constitute substantial use, nor does extensive use of a facility commonly available to all faculty or professional staff (such as libraries and offices), nor does extensive use of a specialized facility for routine tasks.

University Ownership

When intellectual property, such as works, inventions, developments, or discoveries, is created with substantial use of University facilities, whether provided by external support or not, the University will originally retain the rights to the property, provided that it desires to commercially develop the property or to make it available to the public. If, however, the University elects not to commercially develop said property or fails to show diligence in such development, the ownership rights to that property may be acquired by the creator.

If the creator develops an intellectual property with substantial use of University facilities, she or he must make full and fair disclosure to the University of all such sources of compensation relating to that intellectual property.

Intellectual property created during a sabbatical belongs to the faculty member. Typical sabbatical plans do not require the use of substantial university resources. If the work created as part of an approved sabbatical plan requires resources beyond those normal for a sabbatical, the parties may enter into an applicable arrangement prior to the sabbatical.

Waiver of University Rights

  1. Time for Review
    2. Before the creation of any work of intellectual property using substantial University resources, the creator(s) shall notify the office of the Vice President of Academic Administration. Inventors and authors shall receive the written decision of the University’s intention to pursue or release rights of ownership within 45 days of the date of the formal submission to the office of the Vice President of Academic Administration.
  2. Release of Invention to Inventor(s): The University may determine that an invention will not be patented, and will not be licensed or otherwise commercialized by the University. In those cases, the Vice President for Academic Administration will cause ownership rights to be waived by the University.
  3. Use of Revenue: Funds received by the University from the sale of intellectual property owned by the University shall be allocated and expended as determined solely by the University. Funds received by an employee from the sale of intellectual property owned by the employee shall be allocated and expended as determined solely by the employee. In the case of joint ownership between the University and an employee, funds received from the sale of intellectual property shall be allocated and expended in accordance with the specific agreement (which may be variable) determined at the time that joint ownership is determined.