II. Definitions
Key terms in this Policy are defined below.
Author means a person or legal entity that creates or owns a copyrighted work.
Copyright means an original work of authorship that has been fixed in any tangible medium of expression from which it can be perceived, reproduced or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Copyright includes a bundle of rights: the right to make reproductions of the work, the right to distribute copies of it, the right to make derivative works that borrow substantially from a copyrighted work and the right to make public performances or displays of most works.
Electronic Course means an academic course of study, delivered in whole or in part via electronic means and fixed in any medium capable of display on a computer or electronic media screening device.
Intellectual Property means certain creations of the human mind that are granted legal aspects of a property right. These property rights include Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, Service marks, Inventions, Trade Secrets and any other such rights that may be created by law in the future.
Intellectual Property Review Board means the board, whose members are appointed by the Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, which shall advise on the interpretation and implementation of the Intellectual Property Policy.
Invention means any new or useful process or discovery, art, method, technique, machine, device manufacture, Software, composition of matter, or improvement thereof.
Invention Disclosure means a form that reports and describes a new Invention, signed by the Inventor(s).
Inventor means any individual associated with the University who makes an Invention; also, any “inventorship entity” comprising two or more individuals, one or more of whom are associated with the University, who jointly make an Invention.
Material License Agreement means agreements entered outlining how materials will be distributed to third parties for research or commercial purposes.
Patent means an exclusive right granted by the U.S. or a foreign patent office that gives an Inventor the right to exclude others from making, using or selling the Invention within the United States or other geographic territories for a period of years from the date of filing of the patent application.
Principal Investigator is the primary individual in charge of a research grant, cooperative agreement, training or public service project, contract, or other sponsored project.
Royalties means all compensation of whatever kind received from the sale, license or other transfer of Intellectual Property rights by the University to a third party. This includes, but is not limited to, percentage payments, up-front fees, milestone payments, shares of stock and any other financial or in-kind consideration.
Scholarly Works are works authored by employees as part of or in connection with their responsibilities, if any, in teaching, research, or scholarship. Common examples of Scholarly Works include: lecture notes, case examples, course materials, syllabi, textbooks, works of nonfiction, novels, journal articles, scholarly papers, poems, lyrics, musical compositions and recordings, architectural drawings, software, visual works of art, and other artistic creations, among others, regardless of the medium in which those works are fixed or disseminated.
Significant University Resources means financial, material, personnel or other support provided to an employee that is beyond the level of common research and teaching support typically provided by the University to that employee. Some examples of Significant University Resources include, but are not limited to, the following: use of research funding to create the Intellectual Property; assistance of support staff in creating the Intellectual Property and use of University facilities to create the Intellectual Property.
Commonly provided resources such as libraries, offices, classrooms, and clerical support do not qualify as significant University Resources.
Software means any computer program or database, or part thereof, designed to accomplish a task or allow a user to produce, manage, analyze or manipulate a product, such as data, text, a physical object or other Software. Software may be protected by Patent, Copyright or Trade Secret.
Sponsored Research Agreement (SRA) means a contract between the University and a sponsoring organization that sets the terms and conditions for the conduct of a faculty research or training project. An SRA typically includes a description of the work to be performed, the terms of payment, ownership of intellectual property, publication rights and other legal assurances.
Tangible Research Property (TRP) means research results in their physical form, and includes, but is not limited to, data, notes, workbooks, Software, biological organisms, compositions of matter, instruments, machines or devices, drawings and other property that can be physically distributed. Tangible Research Property may also be Intellectual Property.
Trademark/Service mark means a word, name, symbol or device (or any combination) adopted by an organization to identify its goods (Trademark) or services (Service mark) and distinguish them from the goods and services of others.
Trade Secret means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process, which derives value from not being generally known or readily ascertainable by other persons and is the subject of reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy.
Work Made for Hire, as defined in part in the United States Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. Section 101, is (1) a “work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment”; or (2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire.