UChicagoTech Policies
Patents and Ownership
Ownership of intellectual property developed at the University by faculty, staff, and students is governed by Statute 18 of the University of Chicago Statutes, August 2001. This states: "Where research or other activities carried out at the University, or with the substantial aid of its facilities or funds administered by it result in inventions, discoveries, or device-like software, such products shall be disclosed to the University, shall be the property of the University and shall be assigned to the University or an organization designated by the University."
See: http://trustees.uchicago.edu/articles/statutes.pdf
See: http://http://www.uchicago.edu/docs/studentmanual/2007/university/index.shtml#patent
If there is doubt about ownership of an invention, the inventors must raise the question with UChicagoTech at the time the disclosure is submitted and receive a written decision concerning the University's interests. Faculty, students, and employees who feel that such a decision is unfavorable, i.e., that their patentable inventions or software should be exempt from the University policies (Statute 18) because the work did not meet the conditions of that statute-- may present a case to the Committee on Patents, Software, and Intellectual Property to have such inventions and software become the sole property of the inventor(s), with no ownership interest on the part of the University. This committee should be accessed through the office of the Deputy Provost / Vice President for Research and Argonne National Laboratory.
Revenue Sharing
Under University policy, detailed in the Revenue Sharing Policy document, inventors of patented inventions receive 25% of the gross revenue flow resulting from any invention, their labs receive 10% of the gross revenue, their departments receive 5% of the gross revenue and their division receives 5% of the gross revenue. The researchers contributing to nonpatented inventions, software and materials may elect to not receive a personal share and instead direct 85% of the gross revenues to a University research account.
Equity Policy
On occasion, the University may receive equity through its licensing of a University invention to, and/or its participation as a co-founder in, a start-up company. The University of Chicago Equity Policy details how equity holdings are managed within the University and how the proceeds of liquidated equity are distributed within the University.
Conflict of Interest
The University publishes conflict of interest guidelines at http://researchadmin.uchicago.edu/guidelines/200/205.shtml.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure and Compliance forms can be downloaded at http://researchadmin.uchicago.edu/guidelines/200/200.shtml.
The University Research Administration, the Provost's Office, the Dean's Offices, and UChicagoTech can help faculty in managing these issues.
Signature Authority
Signature authority with respect to research grants, materials transfer agreements, and conflict of interest clearance resides with University Research Administration. Signature authority with respect to license agreements or any other agreements that pertain to commercialization of the University's intellectual property resides with UChicagoTech.
University faculty and other inventors are not authorized to sign agreements that obligate the University to assign or license intellectual property rights to another entity. While faculty and other inventors may engage in consulting arrangements with outside parties and sign Consulting Agreements with respect to such arrangements, nothing in those agreements may be construed as overriding the obligations of faculty and other inventors as laid out in Statute 18.
Compliance with Sponsor Requirements
The University of Chicago, like other research universities, is governed by the Bayh-Dole (PDF) law (P.L. 96-517 and 98-620 as amended), which lays out the disposition of inventions made with Federal funds. The law provides that nonprofit organizations and small businesses may elect to retain title to inventions conceived or first actually reduced to practice in the performance of work under a funding agreement. By accepting federal funds in support of a research project, recipient institutions assume responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Act. These requirements include reporting of inventions to the federal funding agencies, which requires in turn reporting of inventions by investigators to the University. The full range of obligations under Bayh-Dole is laid out in UChicagoTech Guidelines.
The University also accepts research support from a number of non-federal sources. In almost all cases, these funding agreements include obligations to report inventions as part of the terms concerning how inventions are handled. UChicagoTech serves the Federal Government and other research sponsors by complying with these reporting obligations
In addition, it is common for inventions to arise from collaborative work between faculty, students and employees of the University of Chicago and other educational institutions. In these cases, UChicagoTech will typically work with the administration of the other institution, and may end up working to commercialize, (and, as part of the process, evaluate and protect) the other institution's share of the invention on its behalf.
