Understanding intellectual property ownership
Who Owns the IP?
Your status, involvement, and the type of partnerships you develop while doing research at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno determine who owns the resulting Intellectual Property (IP). Below is a summary. For more information, contact Enterprise & Innovation at (775) 784-4421 or view the University's complete policy on IP.
Faculty & Staff
University owns
- IP created within the scope of their employment
- IP created as the result of an assignment from a University employee
- IP created as part of a grant award
- IP created with significant use of University resources (including funds)
- IP created by a University employee under a corporate-sponsored research agreement
University and other institution jointly own
- IP created with a collaborator from another institution
University and a company jointly own
- IP created by a University employee and a company employee under a corporate-sponsored research agreement
- Company will receive a first option to license the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno ownership portion under reasonable terms.
- The University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno will not have any rights to company’s pre-existing or solely owned IP except as needed to perform the research project.
Faculty & staff own
- Traditional Scholarly Works they have authored/created, including
- books
- book chapters
- articles
- course materials
- and the like
These items are most often covered by copyright. The University has the right to use the works for research and educational purposes.
Student
Student owns
- Any IP created while attending the University
- Including IP created during a Capstone course project
University owns
- IP created within the scope of employment for the University
- IP created as part of a project performed with University funds
Including grants awarded to the University
Member/user of the Innevation Center or the ÁùºÏ±¦µä Center for Applied Research
Member/user owns
- Any IP created or existing prior to arrival at the center
University owns
- IP created by faculty or staff in the normal scope of their work
- IP created under a project funded by the University
Including grant awards
Company employee
Company owns
- IP created by company employee
University and a company jointly own
- IP co-created by a University employee and a company employee under a corporate-sponsored research agreement or any other collaboration
- The company will receive a first option to license the University ownership portion under reasonable terms
- The University will not have any rights to the company’s pre-existing or solely owned IP except as needed to perform the research project
For questions, contact Grace Chou, chief innovation & commercialization officer at (775) 682-8756 or gchou@unr.edu.
