UCT Adopts New IP Policy

30 Sep 2011
30 Sep 2011

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The RCIPS team developed a first draft of the new policy taking the various requirements of the IPR Act into consideration, as well as issues that had arisen with the existing policy that had been in place since 2004.

A Working Group was then constituted with Professors representing each UCT faculty who then reviewed the policy and provided valuable input. The draft was then presented to the Senate Executive Committee, changes made and then the full Senate reviewed it. After the Senate issues were addressed, policy moved through the Academics Union and finally to Council for final approval. The whole process went pretty smoothly, with some good tweaks being made along the way.

One of main changes being the adoption of OpenSource as the default for UCT in terms of software (does not preclude you from using other software and also any National IP Management Office approvals would still need to be sought for the OpenSource dissemination of research output). UCT also now has a policy of supporting Creative Commons licensing for copyrightable material.

An important change that flows through as a direct requirement of the IPR Act is the disclosure of inventions to Research Contracts and IP Services (RCIPS) within 90 days of the discovery of the invention. You can find out more about invention disclosure here where you can also download an Invention Disclosure Form.

Whilst the benefit share for inventors remains unchanged from the 'old' policy (which is actually more favourable than the IPR Act!), splits to research groups, Departments, Faculties and the University have been changed - with sharing driven by the level of income.

An Intellectual Property Advisory Committee (IPAC) has also been established, comprising the DVC responsible for research, the Registrar and the Executive Director of Finance, as well as co-opted members which may for example be a Professor of Law, or a Professor with a specific technical background.

The IPAC will: advise on the establishment of spin-out companies and the share in equity of the founders of such companies; deal with disputes relating to IP; and evaluate requests for endorsements and use of UCT branding in accordance with the endorsement policy.