Copyrighting copy laws

Trinity University reviews intellectual property laws to facilitate obtaining patents and understanding rights

by Kellie Benn

Trinity recently brought together faculty and staff from across several academic disciplines to form a working group that will explore and update the university’s intellectual property policy.
Although the working group is still in the preliminary stages of deciding what changes should take place in intellectual property, there’s general agreement among the members that the current policy is outdated and needs to be expanded and clarified.

“Nothing is in shape yet, but I think that the direction is there,” said Deli Yang, professor of international business. “It’s good to have a new policy because the current one is dated, [and] the scope of the policy coverage is really narrow, so we really need to work on this so that students, faculty and staff members know what the Trinity University Intellectual Property policy means to them. I think it’s really important to get a new more detailed policy out there.”

The existing policy, according to Yang, leaves too much room for interpretation. Clarifying, updating and clearly defining the policy will minimize the potential for conflict that may arise from misinterpretation of the policy.

Intellectual property, in general terms, refers to “legal rights over the creations of the mind” as outlined in Yang’s book, “Understanding and Profiting From Intellectual Property.” She goes on to say that “the concept encompasses a wide range of rights, including the more conventional notions of patents, trademarks, industrial designs and utility models, as well as copyrights together with other forms, such as integrated circuits, business method patents and geographical indications.”

While the university may have a stake in the rights to research conducted on campus and possible patents that may arise from that research, the working group’s interests lie more in creating a policy thatwill help those conducting research to navigate the patent process and understand what their rights are.

“The university would be helping people; the university’s not trying to take everyone’s ideas,” said Bert Chandler, assistant professor of chemistry and chair of the intellectual property working group. “It does cost a lot of money to patent something, and the process itself is long and involved. Anything we can do to help people along the way within the university community, we’d like to be able to do it.”

The process of filing a patent with the U.S. patent office can take a couple of years and can cost around $20,000, most of which is in lawyer fees. According to Chandler, the researcher must prove that the invention is novel in technology and that there is a market for it. Lawyers file legal documents with the patent office, and the researcher must prove that the product is worth patenting.

“I think that it’s important that we facilitate people who want to have their inventions turned into patents, but I also think it’s really important that we encourage intellectual creativity and innovation among faculty and students by giving them as many rights to their own work as possible,” said Jennifer Henderson, associate professor and chair of the department of communication.

Although the policy initially will focus on intellectual property as it applies to faculty, a long-term goal is to eventually extend these opportunities to students as well.

“Our long-term goal is to have a positive effect on students and provide an opportunity and place for students as an educational experience to be involved in the patent process,” Chandler said. “If someone has an idea they want to patent, there’s at least a place they can go to find out more information.”

There is no specific time frame in place yet for when the policy will be completed and put in effect, but Chandler is hoping that they will have some of the basics done by early next semester.
“We want to make sure that everyone understands what we’re doing and that we’re not trying to take everyone’s ideas and give them to the university,” Chandler said. “We want to make sure people realize what the goals here are. That may take a little bit longer.”