University Innovation Bill of Rights

Here are 10 elements for a university innovation Bill of Rights:

1. The university shall make no ownership claims to faculty or student scholarship, including inventions and discoveries, as a condition of employment, use of resources, or participation in sponsored research.

2.  The university shall not insert university claims of ownership into sponsored research agreements, donor agreements, approval for consulting forms, or other such documents except as requested by the sponsor or by the faculty members requesting the agreement.

3.  Everyone working on a project hosted by the university shall be provided with notice of the terms and conditions pertaining to intellectual property, and shall participate in such projects on the basis of informed consent.

4.  The university shall not accept ownership of inventions and other works of scholarship, along with attendant intellectual property, even when offered, unless it has personnel sufficiently provided with resources to manage work so offered.

5.  Faculty members shall have the right to choose a management agent of their choice, whether for inventions, published works, or other scholarship, without interference from the university, and to negotiate the terms of such agency.

6.  What works for faculty also applies to students and staff, other than those staff expressly hired to invent or produce works made for hire for the beneficial use of the university.

7.  Financial claims by the university in faculty scholarship shall be limited to reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs, rental of facilities, and the like, unless those involved in the use of such resources have voluntarily agreed otherwise.

8.  The leader of a scholarly project, whether described as research, instruction, or public service, has a right to establish the conditions on which others collaborate in such a project, and the university may assist in maintaining the integrity of those conditions.

9.  The faculty governing body should be responsible for establishing and interpreting intellectual property policies pertaining to scholarship.

10.  The university has a right, and responsibility, to veto arrangements for intellectual property that would violate law, breach contractual agreements, run contrary to public policy, or represent an unacceptable risk or liability to the university community or the public.