Regulations, Policies, and Procedures
Intellectual Property, Data Rights & Data Retention
Intellectual property is "intangible property" that is the product of intellectual creativity. Examples include copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. Although each is a separate area of law, governed by different federal and state laws concerning ownership and protection, all are designed to provide some protection against others from misappropriating the products and ownership of intellectual creativity.
University of Chicago Policies on Intellectual Property
- Statute 18 (PDF). Patent Policy
- New Information Technologies and Intellectual Property at the University
- Personnel Policy Guidelines, Section: U1004
- Policy on Patents and Software (October 2003)
- URA and UChicagoTech have collaborated to draw up a list of data rights & intellectual property terms and conditions to help investigators understand generally acceptable terms, and terms which cause problems. Click here to view.
Data Rights
There is no University policy on data ownership per se, but inasmuch as ownership of data provides a secure basis for ownership of intellectual property and the principle of academic freedom, the University claims the right to own and disseminate its research data.
Students and postdocs leaving the University may take a copy of the data for their future research, leaving the original notebooks. They have no rights to the underlying intellectual property, except to the extent they are named inventors on patents.
Data Retention
Federal funding sponsors generally describe the institution as responsible for the retention of data, but in practice at the University of Chicago the Principal Investigator is charged with custodial responsibility for his/her own research data in accordance with Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Circular A-110, which requires financial records, supporting documents, statistical records and all other records shall be retained for a period of 3 years (with some exceptions—see OMB Circular A-110, section 53).
NIH Policies
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Developing Sponsored Research Agreements: Considerations for Recipients of NIH Research Grants and Contracts (deals with corporate sponsored research agreements)
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Final NIH Statement On Sharing Research Data (February 2003)
NIH's policy to share and make available to the public the results and accomplishments of the activities that it funds -
Principles & Guidelines for Recipients of NIH Research Grants and Contracts on Obtaining and Disseminating Biomedical Research Resources: Final Notice (December 1999)
The purpose of these Principles and Guidelines is to assist NIH funding recipients in determining 1) reasonable terms and conditions for making NIH-funded research resources available to scientists in other institutions in the public and private sectors (disseminating research tools), and 2) restrictions to accept as a condition of receiving access to research tools for use in NIH-funded research (acquiring research tools)
Helpful Links
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Outside Professional and Commercial Interests of Faculty / Conflict of Interest (PDF) (July 2007). This policy addresses situations where there might be a potential financial or personal conflict between a particular outside interest of a faculty member and the obligation that the faculty member owes to the University.
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University of Chicago Intellectual Property Workshop (PPT) – October 20, 2003
Intellectual Property Issues for the Research Administrator – NCURA video 2000 (available to borrow from URA) -- The program focuses on intellectual property issues that research administrators face on a regular basis such as identifying and assessing the significance of key issues and some alternative solutions along with covering the consequences that can occur for the institution. -
UChicagoTech the University of Chicago's Office of Technology & Intellectual Property
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A Primer on Intellectual Property for the Research Administrator – NCURA video 2003 (available to borrow from URA) -- This workshop will introduce patent and copyright law, as well as other key concepts necessary for the understanding and negotiating of intellectual property. The faculty will outline current federal regulation and policy with respect to intellectual property, such as the Bayh-Dole Act and rights in technical data. Finally, the workshop will introduce issues when negotiating intellectual property rights in industry sponsored research agreements.
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COGR (Council on Governmental Relations)
See under Educational Materials: - FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)
