Intellectual property means the tangible or communicable results of literary, artistic and scientific endeavor and can be intellectual, material or cultural products. It includes, among others, works in the form of books; monographs; papers; journal and magazine articles; theses and technical reports; paintings; drawings and sculpture; artistic performances; film, video and audio recordings; computer software; inventions; industrial design; trademarks; plant breeders rights; know-how; and biological materials.
Intellectual Property may be held individually, collectively or jointly by persons or other entities. Protected Intellectual Property may, like any other asset, be bought or sold, leased, and/or shared. Licensing is the mechanism by which this is accomplished. Licensing Intellectual Property is the act of giving someone permission to use the property, subject to the owner receiving valuable consideration in return (e.g., a royalty). Assigning Intellectual Property rights is the act of giving them to another person or entity; it is a transfer of ownership. Permission to use Intellectual Property may, but does not necessarily, include the transfer of money.
Most Intellectual Property can be either protected under copyright or, in the case of inventions, through patents.
17.1. COPYRIGHT
Copyright is an exclusive property right to publish, produce, reproduce, translate, broadcast, adapt or perform a work, as defined by the Copyright Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42, as amended.) Canadian copyright law applies to all original literary, scholarly, dramatic, musical, and artistic works and recordings and software.
17.1.1. GRADUATE STUDENTS AS COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
Copyright rests with a graduate student providing that they work independently of collaborators, including the research supervisor(s) and the financial sponsor(s) of research programs; the work is not part of a graduate student's assigned duties as part of a research grant or contract under the supervision of faculty members, or as part of the assigned duties related to Graduate Teaching or Graduate Research Fellowships from the University. The graduate student is then the sole copyright holder of the following:
- material and ideas submitted in course work or presented in seminars and thesis developed as part of the academic program of the student;
- lectures developed and delivered by the graduate student;
- printed works (books, articles and similar materials) written by the graduate student;
- artistic works (paintings, sculptures, musical compositions and the like) created by the graduate student;
- computer programs developed by the graduate student;
- recorded works (films, video tapes, audio recordings, etc.) created by the graduate student.
Copyright exists as soon as a copyrightable work is created. Ownership of copyright should be indicated on the title page by placing a copyright symbol in front of the owner's name, followed by the year.
The CGPS shall provide instructions on accessibility to and use of graduate theses prepared at the University of Saskatchewan. Permission granted to allow accessibility and use of a thesis does not constitute an assignment of Intellectual Property rights to the University. The discretion always remains with a graduate student to assign to the University the copyright in a created work.
17.1.2. COPYRIGHT AND SUBSEQUENT USE OF THESES AND PROJECTS
As a condition for the award of a degree, the student shall give permission to the University Library to make the thesis available for inspection and to the supervisor of the research and to the academic unit in which the research was done to copy and to circulate the thesis for scholarly purposes only, and to make use of material and ideas included in the thesis in the preparation of papers for publication.
Following successful defence of the thesis, students shall grant permission to the University to use the thesis in accordance with full respect of students' copyright. Where circumstances warrant, theses may be withheld from circulation for up to three (3) years.
17.1.3. GRADUATE STUDENTS AS CO-AUTHORS
Students who have made a contribution to a work being reported in a presentation, publication and/or artistic performance, either in the conception, design, or execution of the experimental work, interpretation of data or drafting an article/presentation, shall be included as an author or given other appropriate acknowledgement. Authorship on a paper shall be attributed to those persons who have made substantive contributions (as described by the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy) to a paper, and only those persons.
17.1.4. ROYALTIES FROM COPYRIGHT MATERIALS
A graduate student is entitled to receive any and all royalties on copyrighted work for which he/she is the exclusive owner. Royalties on copyrighted works that are produced as part of the graduate student's assigned duties shall be shared equally between the joint owners of the copyrighted works in proportion to their contributions and the University (i.e., 50% to the joint owners and 50% to the University), or other such sharing arrangement as may be approved by the joint owners and the University.
17.1.5. GRADUATE STUDENTS AS USERS OF COPYRIGHTED WORKS
Plagiarism is "the appropriation or imitation of language, ideas, and thoughts of another author, and representation of them as one's original work."[1] Copying excerpts for term papers, thesis or article, or excerpts from unpublished and published works to be included in a thesis or article need to be acknowledged. Where required the permission of the holder of copyright must be obtained. Graduate students are expected to be familiar with University policies governing plagiarism.
17.1.6. GRADUATE STUDENTS AND RESEARCH CONTRACTS/COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
Graduate students may be involved in research activities that are contractual in nature. Such contracts, when authorized by the University, contain provisions relating to Intellectual Property. In some cases, all Intellectual Property created or reduced to practice under such contract relationships may be owned entirely by the sponsor and may contain clauses that delay or prevent the publication and/or use of the Intellectual Property.
Faculty supervisors shall inform graduate students working under their supervision of any restrictions on use of or access to Intellectual Property as a result of contractual relationships between the University and an external sponsor. Restrictions to access of use of student-developed Intellectual Property shall not interfere with a student satisfying degree requirements.
17.2. INVENTIONS
The word invention as used here shall mean any new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement in any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, and shall include industrial design and know-how.
The term know-how will mean all technical information, whether reduced to writing or oral, including, but not limited to, research and field reports and data and conclusions relative to a particular development or method and also including any information which is or could be useful to the engineering, design, manufacture, construction, operation or use of that particular development or method.
17.2.1. GRADUATE STUDENTS AS INVENTORS
The student creator is responsible for determining the best form of protection (e.g., patent, confidential non-disclosure agreements, trade secrets).
Graduate students may undertake a research project for their thesis which is part of a much larger research project continuing over several years and patent application[s] may not be filed during the period of such students' programs. In such cases, those claiming ownership of Intellectual Property and the University have the responsibility to recognize appropriately all contributions to the invention.
Graduate students may ask that the CGPS keep their thesis confidential for a period of up to 12 months in cases where a patent application or other form of IP protection is being sought. The 12 month period cannot be extended except in extraordinary circumstances which are justified in full and explicit terms.
The underlying obligations in University Policy that apply to inventions and discoveries arising from the individual’s duties and activities, or which are made using University equipment and/or facilities, are extended to graduate students. As such, all discoveries and inventions shall be disclosed to the University Innovation Enterprise office promptly in writing.
The creator(s) shall assign the Intellectual Property to Innovation Enterprise, and ILO shall incur all expenses related to protection and commercialization.17.3. RETENTION/MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS
17.4. AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY, SUPERVISORS, AND GRADUATE STUDENTS
Upon the appointment of a graduate student to a faculty, to an adjunct or to a staff member's research program, the supervisor(s) and the graduate student are advised to discuss and reach an agreement on both the terms for the student's access to any confidential or proprietary information related to the research project.
Supervisors and graduate students should agree in advance on the criteria used to assess the relative contributions when determining the disposition of any Intellectual Property created in the course of the research carried out by the graduate student under the supervision of and/or in collaboration with the faculty or staff member, research technician, and post-doctoral fellows in the faculty or staff member's research team. Such agreements should be developed jointly between the graduate student and the faculty advisor, with careful attention paid to the rights of the graduate student as a potential developer of Intellectual Property. Whenever possible, the agreement should be in writing and signed by all interested parties, and should be amendable should circumstances change. Model Agreements which can be adapted to the specific circumstances are attached. Copies of all such agreements and amendments should be placed in the students' academic unit files, with copies sent to CGPS for review with regard to compliance with the terms of University policies.
In the case of co-authorship of external presentations or publications that occur during and following the student's program, the agreement should indicate if and how authorship is to be assigned and in what order, and in relation to which contributions of the participants. The agreement should oblige all research notes and data to remain in the research laboratory or other assigned space at all times and be open to the faculty or staff member and other members of the research team in accordance with their need to know.
The members of the research team acknowledge that research undertaken at the University's facilities may contribute to the research project or thesis requirements for a postgraduate degree. The student should be permitted to publish in any paper or thesis the results of her/his research activities, although no confidential or proprietary information can be incorporated into any thesis or research paper without the prior written consent of the owner.
The agreement should outline the criteria on which relative contributions to any discovery will be assessed. The student should agree to disclose to the supervisor and to the University any and all inventions, discoveries, improvements, whether patentable, copyrightable or otherwise, conceived or made by the student during the period of access to the research facilities and resources. The University undertakes to ensure that the student's rights to Intellectual Property developed solely by the student or in co-operation with the supervisor and/or other members of the research team will be protected and commercialized in the same manner and with the same benefits as if the student were an employee of the University (i.e., where Intellectual Property is the product of joint work, all co-discoverers are obliged to make an assignment to the University).17.5. AGREEMENTS BETWEEN SPONSORING AGENCIES AND GRADUATE STUDENTS
Graduate students shall consult with their faculty advisors and the CGPS prior to signing any agreement with a sponsoring agency or industry regarding the assignment of intellectual property or proprietary information.
17.6. DISPUTE RESOLUTION
In cases where disputes arise among graduate students or between graduate students and supervisors over respective rights dealing with Intellectual Property, the parties shall attempt to resolve the questions in an informal manner, with the assistance of the academic unit Head and/or Dean, CGPS , or their designates.
Should the resolution of the matter be considered unsolvable at this level, the matter will be referred to a Committee of the Graduate Council of the CGPS, comprised of four members plus the chair who will be the Director of Research Services. Two of the four committee members will be elected following nominations from the CGPS Nominating Committee; and two positions, defined as Graduate Student Association representatives, shall be elected following nomination from the CGPS Nominating Committee and consultation with the Graduate Student Association. Resolution of the matter will be decided by a majority vote, with the chair breaking any tie which arises. Committee members must be full-time employees or full-time students of the University.
17.7. POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The policy on intellectual property shall be administered jointly by the Office of Research Services and the CGPS with the assistance and collaboration of the Industry Liaison Office where appropriate.
The Industry Liaison Office shall report semi-annually to the Office of Research Services and the CGPS on disclosures made by graduate students and the disposition of such disclosures.
Graduate students should be aware of and familiar with the contents of the following policy statements and guidelines:
- University of Saskatchewan Copyright Compliance Policy (1995)
- University of Saskatchewan Policy Dealing with Misconduct in Scholarly Work (1993)
- University of Saskatchewan. Guidelines for the Various Parties Involved in Graduate Student Project and Thesis Research (1995)
- Integrity in Research and Scholarship: A Tri-Council Policy Statement (1994: MRC, SSHRC, NSERC)
- University Calendar
- University Council and College Regulations on Examinations and Student Grievances, Appeals & Discipline Regulations
- Canada Consumer and Corporate Affairs. Intellectual Property: What It Means to You.