UA Intellectual Property Policy for Review
Your Feedback Wanted on University's Intellectual Property Policy
There are many ways to measure the UA's impact, whether it's research funding, community connections or the success of students and alumni.
Another way the UA impacts the community is by commercializing inventions born of University research.
The UA's Intellectual Property Policy plays a key role in the commercialization process, and the campus community is being invited to weigh in on proposed revisions to that policy.
Tech Launch Arizona – the unit dedicated to commercializing technologies born of UA research – committed in its 2012 Roadmap to updating the Intellectual Property Policy. Over the past year, TLA has been working through that process in collaboration with the UA Intellectual Property Committee and the UA Office of General Counsel.
"What we are now doing is getting the proposed revisions to the policy out to the UA community and other interested parties," said David Allen, vice president of Tech Launch Arizona. "We want to be totally transparent about this, and make sure the University community has an opportunity for comments and feedback."
The new policy, along with a summary of the proposed changes and an informative FAQ, is available on the TLA website along with a feedback form. All comments and suggestions are welcome.
While few substantive changes have been proposed, the result at this stage is a number of recommended changes to make the policy more approachable and understandable, more clear and concise, and more logical in terms of organization and structure, Allen said.
The Intellectual Property Committee, Office of General Counsel and TLA delivered the revisions this summer to UA President Ann Weaver Hart's Cabinet. The Cabinet will move the policy forward to the Faculty Senate when the senate reconvenes in September. Campus feedback will be accepted up to that time.
When a new invention is brought to light – when it is "disclosed" to Tech Launch Arizona – it undergoes an assessment of its prospect for legal protection and potential market value. If it is protectable – typically through patenting – and likely has value, TLA works collaboratively with external counsel to patent the invention and find an innovative adopter that will bring it to the marketplace and into public use.
What does that mean? In short, the invention is converted into an asset that the University can commercialize in one of two ways: It can be licensed to an existing company, or it can be used as the basis to start a whole new company.
In fiscal year 2014, UA faculty and researchers disclosed 188 technologies to TLA. Eleven faculty inventions became the foundations for startup companies. And the UA patented 92 inventions.