Intellectual Property

One of the most important and also one of the most perplexing issues an engineer will face in their career is who owns the intellectual rights to their creations, designs and ideas. One may be quick to think that the sole ownership belongs to the creator but this is not as common as one may think. For example: when Steve Wozniak designed the first personal computer he worked for H.P.. They had an ownership stake in the invention because it was conceived and developed during his employ. It is not hard to imagine that Apple computer and the future of computing in general may have been quite different if H.P. had decided to pursue Wozniak's idea.

Draconian intellectual property right laws can be quite a barrier to creativity and ingenuity. It is a fundamental responsibility for all parties involved in the creation, funding and promotion of new ideas to strike a fair balance in a way that is both fair and also encourages progress. In general it has been my experience that this is generally the case when the engineer's coworkers, and superiors behave in an ethical and responsible manner. The golden rule is integrity by all parties involved.

As university students the intellectual rights to property is a large gray area. There are rules but they can be vague and ill-defined. Rules can also be different from one university to another and from one department to another. The rules are only slightly less gray if you are employed by the university. Generally if you are in anyway employed even if unpaid then your intellectual rights may not be rights at all. It is in the institutions best interests to facilitate progress however. Generally a synergistic relationship is formed and can be mutually beneficial when it comes to funding, promoting and profit sharing.

Intellectual property regulations at the University of Tennessee are in effect but can be hard to define or even find. Also, just because the university states a regulation that does not always mean that it will stand up in a court of law. Here is the general UT policy statement:

“GENERAL POLICY ON PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, AND OTHER INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY

The goal of The University of Tennessee Policy on Patents, Copyrights, & other

Intellectual Property is to promote the progress of science and the arts and the

development of the University and faculty through the provisions of an established

policy. Patents, copyrights, and licensing of intellectual property provide a means for

developing and using inventions and creations. This Statement of Policy has been

established to ensure that those creative developments in which the University has an

equity interest will be used in a manner most likely to benefit the public and at the same

time provide compensation to those faculty and staff who invent and create. ”

This is pretty vague and does not in anyway disclose any specific guidelines. It can be very hard to determine what a students rights are from such a broad statement. It goes on to state three action items:

“1. Assist faculty and staff in the commercialization of their products.

2. Make inventions and creations resulting from the efforts of University personnel

available to industry and the public on an effective and nondiscriminatory basis; and

3. Obtain revenue for faculty and staff who invent and create and for the University for

use in furthering its educational and research goals. ”

The general tone of this is positive and should be since if it was negative it would directly contradict the overall mission statement. The burden still falls on the student to determine if their ideas are their own intellectual property or not. This can cause many conflicts since disputes can arise after the fact.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are strict laws regarding intellectual property that can have national security implications. Some intellectual property may not be outsourced overseas for development. In general: “Export Licenses are required in certain situations involving national security, foreign policy and terrorist concerns. In addition, certain places as well as denied persons and organizations are subject to additional restrictions.”Penalties for non compliance of export control laws include prison terms and multi-million dollar fines.

In general as non university employed or funded students most intellectual property belongs to the creator. There could be advantages to partnering with the university to develop an idea. At first glance one may think that the creator should have exclusive rights but it is important to place things in the proper perspective. For example: If a company hires a new engineering graduate, pays for their training and gives the engineer resources to do a job and that engineer develops a way to do that job better on the companies dime it would not be ethical for that engineer to go off and form a new company on their own using that new idea as it would likely damage or ruin the company that originally hired the engineer. The same goes for a university that employs a student to work on a research project and pay the students tuition. The student discovers a remarkable outcome in their research and develops the technology on their own. The University is lawfully entitled to a portion if not all of the credit, profit of the discovery.

When it comes to disclosure of ideas and creations caution is advised since the legality can be called into question in certain situations involving national security. The bottom line in everything is act with integrity when dealing with intellectual property. Be cautious and responsible with the ideas and creations and also give credit where credit is due. It is equally important to mention that the creator of something is ALWAYS entitled to some portion of either the credit or profit from an idea. Unfortunately the burden of proof can be hard to defend at times. If an idea is worth fighting for then both sides have a responsibility to claim their fair portion. In many cases the side with the bigger stick will come out ahead if they do not act ethically. If both employers and inventors approach things with a cooperative stance then we all stand to profit from the advance of ideas.