IP Resources for Students and Universities

 

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St Salvator's College Quad 15 Feb 2023

Jane Lambert

Just before Christmas Daniel Alexander KC held in Oxford University Innovation Ltd v Oxford Nanoimaging Ltd [2022] EWHC 3200 that the CEO of Oxford Nanoimaging Ltd had been a "consumer" within the meaning of reg 3 (1) of  The Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 when he signed up as a research student at Oxford University.   His contract incorporated Oxford's intellectual property policy which vested the right to apply for patents for student inventions in the University. The learned deputy judge assessed that provision for fairness.

On the facts before him, Mr Alexander found that the term had been fair but had he found otherwise the intellectual property policy would not have bound the student.  I discussed the case and its implications in Patents: Oxford University Innovation Ltd v Oxford Nanoimaging Ltd on 23 Jan 2023 in NIPC Law and in Student Inventors and their Universities - Ownership of IP in Inventions Resulting from Students' Research on 26 Jane 2023 in NIPC Innovation.   

Not long after I had posted those articles I was invited to deliver a seminar on intellectual property to the teams working on research, innovation, commercialization and partnership support for Bangor University. I discussed my visit in The Day I Went to Bangor on 24 Feb 2023.  I wrote about some of the issues that had arisen in the seminar on Negotiating Consultancy and Licensing Agreements with Universities on 26 Feb 2023 in NIPC Wales.

Since then I have received a number of enquiries about the respective rights of universities and their students in respect of the work of both graduate students and undergraduates.   A lot of answers to those questions are to be found in the online training tools posted by the Intellectual Property Office which I mentioned in Where to Learn about IP for Free yesterday.  For managers responsible for negotiating licensing and consultancy agreements with businesses on behalf of universities there is the IPO's Intellectual Asset Management for Universities which can be downloaded from the "Intellectual Asset Management Universities" page of the IPO's website.  It was first published in 2014 and needs to be updated but it remains relevant.   The "Intellectual Asset Management Universities" refers readers to PraxisAURIL. The Institute of Knowledge Transfer and InnovateUK. 

For students, there is IP Tutor.  According to the IPO, this training tool can be completed in 40 minutes at the end of which students should:

• "Be able to identify different forms of IP
• Understand the role of IP in your chosen subject area
• Know how to use IP to protect your work
• Gain a new skill that is valued by employers and is useful in self-employment
• Be accredited by the IPO as having completed this course.
• This training will only discuss IP in the UK but we will provide links to information on international IP issues at the end of the training,"

After some general information, it is divided into different modules for "Creative", "Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths", "Humanities" and "Business Law and Accounting". Each of those modules provides information on patents, copyrights, designs and trade marks as well as a section entitled "IP the Bigger Picture".  "IP Tutor Plus"  supplements "IP Turit" with teaching materials and explanations of the objectives of each of those modules.   Finally, the "IP for Research Fundamentals Toolkit" gathers together the IPO's training resources.

For those who still have questions,  I continue to offer initial advice and signposting in conjunction with the Menai Science Park which is a Bangor University enterprise and the Barnsley Business Village.