Regulation 12: Intellectual property
12.1 Introduction
12.1.1 The University’s approach to Intellectual Property
12.1.1.1 The University recognises the importance of commercialising Intellectual Property generated within the University to achieve a balance between delivering positive societal impact, public good, and financial returns. We are committed to fostering an environment where innovation thrives, and the fruits of research are translated into tangible benefits for society.
12.1.1.2 Regulation 12 is guided by the following principles:
- Positive Impact: We prioritise projects and technologies that address societal challenges, improve quality of life, and promote sustainable development.
- Public Good: We strive to make research outputs accessible and affordable, especially in areas of critical public need.
- Financial Returns: We seek to generate revenue through commercialisation to support further research, education, and innovation activities to further its charitable objectives.
12.1.1.3 A thoughtful and strategic approach to Intellectual Property commercialisation can create a virtuous cycle where innovation fuels progress, generates financial resources, and ultimately benefits society as a whole.
12.1.1.4 The University will never impose the commercialisation of Intellectual Property against the wishes of its Creator(s).
12.1.1.5 Reference to Regulation 12 is made in the contractual conditions of employment of Staff. Regulation 12 is also drawn to the attention of Students in their Terms of Admission.
12.1.2 Scope
This policy will apply to all University Staff, Students, Workers and Agency Staff. When interacting with third parties in matters involving any Intellectual Property, Staff, Students Workers and Agency Staff have a duty to make such third party aware of this Policy (which is publicly available).
All clauses in this Regulation applying to “Staff” will be deemed to include Staff, Workers and Agency Staff.
12.2 Ownership
12.2.1 Intellectual property created by students
12.2.1.1 Student ownership
Normally, Students own the Intellectual Property Rights they create while registered as Students at the University, except for the cases set out in 12.2.1.2. to 12.2.1.5.
12.2.1.2 Supervision: Intellectual Property created by a Student under the supervision of Staff will be always owned by the Student unless:
a. A substantial portion of the Intellectual Property was created under the direct instruction of a Staff member; or
b. The Staff member conceived the core idea of the Intellectual Property; or
c. a Staff member defined the research pathway that led to the Intellectual Property; or
d. a Staff member interpreted data and recognised the significance of results that lead to the creation of the Intellectual Property;
in each of such cases, that Intellectual Property will be owned by the University.
12.2.1.3 Collaboration: Intellectual Property created by a Student in the context of:
a. a Staff-led project where there is already substantial University Intellectual Property; or
b. Intellectual Property that is derived from University Intellectual Property; or
c. a collaboration with a Staff member where the Intellectual Property is created jointly by the Student and the Staff member;
will be owned by the University.
12.2.1.4 Third party grant, funded studentship or other funding: the Intellectual Property created by the Student in such cases will be owned in accordance with 12.2.3.2.
12.2.1.5 Student employed as Staff: if a Student is also a Staff member, all Intellectual Property created by them in their role as Staff member will be owned by the University. If the Intellectual Property was created by the Student in their capacity as Student and Staff member simultaneously, the department, acting impartially and fairly, will advise as to who that Intellectual Property will belong to. If the Staff-Student disagrees with the department’s advice, such dispute will be handled in accordance with clauses 12.4.2 and 12.4.3.
In each case in 12.2.1.2, to 12.2.1.5 above, where the Intellectual Property created by a Student is considered University-owned Intellectual Property, that Student’s contribution to that Intellectual Property will be recognised and that Student will be considered a Creator and will receive any income due under section 12.3.2 in proportion to such contribution as they were Staff.
12.2.2 Intellectual Property created by Staff
12.2.2.1 University ownership:
The University will own the Intellectual Property rights its Staff, Workers and Agency Staff create, except for the cases set out in 12.2.2.2 to 12.2.2.6 and 12.2.3.2.
12.2.2.2 Scholarly output: All scholarly output (books, articles (whether academic, journalistic, or opinion pieces), blogs, vlogs or similar self-published (online or off line) material, videos or digital content) created by a member of Staff during their employment with the University belongs to that member of Staff. However the Intellectual Property rights in any research data collected or produced in the course of the research leading to such scholarly output (“Research Data”) belong to the University, subject to any pre-existing ownership or other third party restrictions to such Research Data. If the member of Staff involved in the production of such Research Data leaves the University and wishes to transfer the data to their new institution, they may request permission to the University to do so. The University would not typically withhold such permission except for case-specific instances (eg if the transfer could undermine the commercialisation of the Intellectual Property).
12.2.2.3 Teaching Materials: All teaching materials will be owned by the Staff member that created them, save for:
a. Online courses: teaching materials for online learning courses (excluding (i) lectures available online that were recorded as part of a classroom-based course and (ii) online materials made available in the context of a classroom-based course) will be owned by the University.
b. Professional services: teaching and training materials written by Professional Services Staff (ie non-teaching Staff) for internal use will be owned by the University.
c. Commissions: teaching or training materials specifically commissioned by the University outside of the Staff member’s usual course of employment will be owned by the University.
12.2.2.4 CPD: Teaching and training materials created by a Staff member in the context of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses offered by the University to third parties will be owned by that Staff member.
12.2.2.5 Artistic Works: Except if they were commissioned specifically by the University outside of the Staff member’s usual course of employment, Artistic Works created by a Staff Member excluding (1) research materials or any research element of the above works; (2) software, computer code and algorithms; and (3) any technical innovation which can assist in or enable the creation of above-mentioned works, will be owned by that Staff member. Items referred to in (1) to (3) of this 12.2.2.5 will belong to the University.
12.2.2.6 Background Intellectual Property: Intellectual Property created by a Staff Member during their previous employment will not be owned by the University, unless a separate agreement is put in place between the University and the previous employer/s and/or Staff member.
12.2.3 Created by or involving third parties
12.2.3.1 Visitors: Visitors to the University will normally own the Intellectual Property Rights they solely create while accessing University resources unless there is an agreement to the contrary.
12.2.3.2 Third party involvement: When a third party (including visitors) is involved in the creation and/or funding of Intellectual Property created by a Staff member and/or Student (eg placement or studentship), the arrangement or legal agreement between the University and that third party (and if applicable the Student) will govern the ownership of that Intellectual Property, as well as its protection and possible exploitation.
12.2.3.3 Research contracts: The University will seek to retain ownership of new Intellectual Property Rights created by its Staff in the performance of a research contract. As a matter of principle, the University will normally only transfer ownership of new Intellectual Property created by its Staff to a third party funder if that funder pays at least the commercial price for the work. The University may also negotiate royalties for commercial use of the Intellectual Property. If the University transfers ownership of Intellectual Property to a third party, the University will require an Academic Licence back to that Intellectual Property.
The University will seek to preserve the rights of Staff members to publish material arising from research as they think fit. In commercially sensitive cases however the University will be prepared to agree to a temporary delay on publication to protect proprietary information relating to the Intellectual Property.
12.2.4 Licence to University
12.2.4.1 From Students: Each Student grants the University a non-exclusive, perpetual royalty-free licence to use its Student Intellectual Property for the purposes of examination of that Student. This includes sharing the Student Intellectual Property with third parties, such as external examiners and providers of anti-plagiarism software.
12.2.4.2 From Staff
12.2.4.2.1 Academic Licence: Each member of Staff grants the University an Academic Licence in Staff-owned Intellectual Property.
12.2.4.2.2 Publication: Each Staff member grants the University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable licence to make manuscripts of scholarly articles and conference papers publicly available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution licence CCBY (or under an alternative open licence if requested e.g. by third party funder).
12.3 Exploitation
12.3.1 Disclosure, protection and development of new Intellectual Property
12.3.1.1 If a member of Staff creates Intellectual Property that might have an impact outside of the University, they shall promptly report the existence of the Intellectual Property to the Commercialisation Team in the Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (RIKE) Directorate via a relevant Disclosure Form before making any public disclosure.
12.3.1.2 The Commercialisation Team shall consider if the disclosed Intellectual Property is Commercial Intellectual Property and will then consider any future protection and development of the Intellectual Property in accordance with the University’s published commercialisation process.
12.3.1.3 The Intellectual Property managed by the Commercialisation Team is owned by the University and as such the Creator(s) of such Intellectual Property cannot take steps to commercialise such Intellectual Property (eg setting up their own company) without the prior approval of the University, in accordance with the University’s published commercialisation process.
12.3.2 Licensing
All income received by the University from the licensing or assignment of University Intellectual Property will (after any required distributions to third parties) be distributed in the following order:
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Total income received for a specific Intellectual Property |
Creator(s) |
University |
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First £1000 |
100% |
0% |
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All following amounts are used to reimburse all external legal (including patent) costs and the remaining Income is distributed as per the following: |
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Next £24,000 |
80% |
20% |
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Next £50,000 |
50% |
50% |
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All amounts thereafter |
33.3% |
66.6% to be allocated as follows: |
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Income received by the University for that Intellectual Property |
Income allocation within the University |
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First £1 million |
100% towards research |
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All amounts thereafter |
70% towards research 30% for the school or department from which the Intellectual Property originated |
12.3.3 Spin-outs
12.3.3.1 These regulations shall apply to spin-out companies incorporated after the date of these regulations.
12.3.3.2 Save in the case set out in section 12.3.3.5 below, the founding equity in a spin-out will be split between the University and the Creator(s) as follows (to be diluted in equal proportion in the event of further share issuances):
a. With regards to Commercial Intellectual Property which includes a patent (whether a patent application/s and/or granted patent/s), 20% for the University and 80% for the Creator(s) (to be shared among Creator(s) pro rata to their contribution in the event of several Creator(s));
b. With regards to Commercial Intellectual Property which doesn't include a patent, 10% for the University and 90% for the Creator(s) (to be shared among Creator(s) pro rata to their contribution in the event of several Creator(s));
c. And in each case, any founding equity that is due to a third party (e.g. joint owner or funder), will reduce the University’s and the Creator’s equity in the same proportions as referred to a) and b) above.
12.3.3.3 The University’s shareholding is in consideration for making available the Commercial Intellectual Property to the spin-out company through an exclusive, royalty-free licence, under which the spin-out grants back to the University an Academic Licence to such Commercial Intellectual Property.
12.3.3.4 For the avoidance of doubt, Creator(s) will not be entitled to any portion of the University’s income from the University’s shares in the spin-out company.
12.3.3.5 If a spin-out company is set up to primarily deliver social good, commonly known as social enterprise, and is to be formally constituted as a Charity, Community Interest Company (CIC), co-operative or a not-for-profit company, then the University and Creator(s) will discuss the most appropriate ownership model to further social goals of the company, and this may vary from the standard founding equity position with the University taking less or no ownership stake.
12.3.4 Non-exploitation
If, at any stage, the University declines to protect, or continue to protect, and commercialise Commercial Intellectual Property, the University shall (subject to any rights of third parties) offer the Creator(s)s an opportunity to take assignment of the Commercial Intellectual Property. In this event:
12.3.4.1 the Creator(s) shall be solely responsible for all costs in protecting and exploiting the Commercial Intellectual Property;
12.3.4.2 the Creator(s) shall reimburse the University for any external patent and legal costs to date;
12.3.4.3 the University shall not share in any further profit from the exploitation of the Commercial Intellectual Property; and
12.3.4.4 the University shall retain an Academic Licence to the Commercial Intellectual Property.
12.4 Disputes
12.4.1 Initial review
In the case of a dispute between Creator(s), or between Creator(s) and the University in relation to a matter under this Regulation 12, such dispute will first be brought to the department of which the Creator(s) are employed by or registered with (as the case may be). Such department, acting impartially and fairly, will offer to the parties a resolution of the dispute.
12.4.2 Mediation
If the resolution reached in clause 12.4.1 does not satisfy one of the parties, they may solicit, the Director of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange to act as an informal mediator to attempt to resolve the dispute.
12.4.3 Final Review for current Staff, Workers or Students
In the event the dispute is not resolved under 12.4.2 and it involves only current Staff or Students, the matter shall be referred for final determination to a panel comprising of (1) the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and (2) two subject experts, at least one of which must be external to the University, appointed by the University.
12.5 Related Policies and Guidance
Schedule 1 Glossary
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Academic Licence |
A worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free licence for the purposes of teaching and non-commercial research which includes, without limitation, the right to use, reproduce in all formats (now known or yet to be devised), modify, distribute (itself or via a third party) original and modified versions to third parties, perform in public, show in public, play in public, broadcast via any media (including third party online platforms), and make adaptations and translations, all without attribution to any author. |
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Agency Staff |
A person engaged by the University via an agency. |
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Artistic Works |
The following types of work: - literary, - poetry - film, television, video - musical, - dramatic (including scripts and performances), - dance, - video games, - painting, drawing and graphic designs - sculpture; and - photography. |
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Commercial Intellectual Property |
Intellectual Property that to be, or in the process of being, commercialised by the University. |
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Created |
Broadly: authored, coded, collated, composed, created, designed, developed, devised, formulated, invented, made, produced, or written. |
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Creator(s) |
One or more members of Staff and Students that created the Intellectual Property |
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Intellectual Property |
All types of intellectual property rights including, without limitation: 1) patents and patentable and non-patentable inventions, ideas, discoveries, developments, improvements or innovations; 2) registered and unregistered design rights; 3) plant variety rights; 4) topographies; 5) trademarks, goodwill, and domain names; 6) copyright and related rights; 7) typographical arrangements, 8) computer software (source code and object code); 9) database rights; 10) Performers’ rights; and 11) confidential information, trade secrets, and unpublished know-how. |
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Staff |
An employee of the University |
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Students |
A person registered as Student with the University |
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Workers |
A person engaged by the University as a casual worker |
If you want to know more about this area, contact our Commercialisation team.