[Emeriti-faculty] Conversation with Nina Green on new intellectual property forms

[Ken Olum <kdo cosmos phy tufts edu>]

Hi, everyone.  I was somewhat alarmed by the new form about
intellectual property described in the message below, because it seems to
me that whenever we are funded by grants and write journal articles,
we would have to transfer the copyrights on the articles to the
university, which would be intrusive and would conflict with journals'
policies.  So I spoke to Nina Green, director of the Tufts Office for
Technology Licensing.  She told me that books, book chapters, journal
articles, conference presentations, and so forth are all considered
"scholarly work" and are not "intellectual property".  The same
applies to computer programs that we write in the course of our work,
unless they have some commercial application.

This interpretation does not seem to be what is stated in the form
that we have to sign, but nevertheless I intend to rely on it when
signing.

                                        Ken

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From: "Chen, Jessica" <Jessica Chen tufts edu>
Subject: NewForm: AgreementonOwnershipofIntellectualProperty
To: "medfordcampusfundingopportunities elist tufts edu"
        <medfordcampusfundingopportunities elist tufts edu>
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2011 16:06:19 +0000

Dear Faculty and Staff,

This message alerts you to the new form, Â?Agreement on Ownership of 
Intellectual PropertyÂ?, now required to be signed by all faculty and 
staff. This new requirement is in effect immediately.

Background: The Supreme CourtÂ?s recent decision on Board of Trustees of 
the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. 
held that intellectual property rights arising from federally funded 
research do not automatically vest with the university receiving such 
funds.  To protect TuftsÂ? interest in innovations created at the 
university, we are now requiring that members of the Tufts community Â? 
faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and staff Â? sign an agreement 
which affirmatively assigns to Tufts all rights in intellectual property 
created in whole or in part through use of university funding or other 
resources. Please consult http://viceprovost.tufts.edu/?pid=6&c=6 for 
further information on Tufts policy of rights and responsibilities with 
respect to intellectual property.

Process: The Agreement must be signed by each researcher at Tufts and will 
be binding for the duration of the researcherÂ?s Tufts appointment. The 
Office of Research Administration (ORA) will confirm whether there is a 
signed form on file for each investigator at the time they submit an 
application for funding. Signed forms will be retained by the Office of 
Technology Licensing & Industry Collaboration (OTL&IC) and can be sent 
there directly by the investigator or by ORA, if requested/  at time of 
proposal submission.  Investigators may access the Â?Agreement on 
Ownership of Intellectual PropertyÂ? at 
http://researchadmin.tufts.edu/?pid=18&c=12 under University-wide forms.

Human Resources will require new employees and post-doctoral fellows to 
sign this Agreement at the time they are hired.  Some post-doctoral 
fellows will be required to sign the Agreement by their deans or 
department heads.

Questions about the Agreement should be addressed to OTL&IC 
(techtransfer.tufts.edu). Questions about the process for signing the form 
should be addressed to the Associate Director of Research Administration 
responsible for processing your proposal submissions.

Sincerely,

Nina Green, Director, Office of Technology Licensing & Industry 
Collaboration
Christine Woodroffe, Senior Associate Director, Research Administration 
(Medford)
Zoya Hamilton, Senior Associate Director, Research Administration 
(Boston/Grafton)