• In cases where a grant or contract between the sponsor and Southern Polytechnic contains specific provisions with respect to disposition of rights to these materials, these will be followed.
• In those cases where property rights and/or royalty income is realized by Southern Polytechnic, the University shall offer to share these rights and revenues with the creator(s) under the plan described below.

• Ownership of intellectual property developed as a result of assigned institutional effort resides with Southern Polytechnic; however, royalty income can be shared with the inventor or creator according to the plan below as an incentive to encourage further development of intellectual property.
• This policy and procedure distinguishes between those efforts that are a part of an individual's customary job responsibilities, especially as specified in applicable hiring documents and job descriptions, and efforts that result from work above and beyond those customary responsibilities.
• In the case of work beyond the customary, the resulting intellectual property shall not be considered the result of institution-assigned effort.
• Materials produced as a result of an individual's customary job responsibilities may not be copyrighted or patented by the creator(s) without written permission from Southern Polytechnic.
• This policy and procedure document  names the following as examples of institution-assigned efforts: course syllabi, memos, departmental and committee minutes and reports, and final exams.
• This policy and procedure names the following as examples of products that are not institution-assigned efforts: course lecture notes, textbooks, or course supplemental materials in any format including paper, electronic, and web pages. 

• As a general guideline, it is expected that institutional resources valued at up to $5,000 per year per creator shall be considered purely incidental. Examples of University support beyond that which is "purely incidental" includes specific projects involving reassigned time, an institutional grant, or other special funding. In such cases, the University must declare its interest in the institution-assisted intellectual property within the specific project agreement with the creator(s).
• This policy and procedure names the following as an example of institution-assisted efforts: products developed during reassigned time where funding for the reassigned time is provided by Southern Polytechnic. 

• There is no use, except in a purely incidental way, of institution resources in the creation of such intellectual property (unless such resources are available without charge to the public).
• The intellectual property is not prepared in accordance with the terms of an institution contract or grant.
• The intellectual property is not developed by faculty, staff or students as a specific institution assignment. The general obligation to produce scholarly and creative works does not constitute a specific assignment for this purpose

• Ownership rights to intellectual property developed under any circumstances other than those listed in Section III A-D of this policy shall be determined on an individual basis and approved by the Southern Polytechnic president or his or her designated representative.
• The nature and extent of inventor or creator participation in rights and revenue, however, shall be subject to institution regulations.
• A written agreement must be put in place concerning ownership of rights and sharing in revenue at the outset of those efforts.

• In the normal case, ownership rights and royalty shares to the intellectual property developed by students in class work or paid work (e.g., as an assistant) shall be determined by the policy and procedure set under "Institution-Assigned Efforts," as described in Section IIIB above. This policy shall be published, at least in the University catalog, and preferably in each appropriate course syllabus.
• Recognizing the diversity of a polytechnic university, the policy governing student efforts might be changed to reflect a special situation. For example, a student or class project might be sponsored by an external organization.
• In the cases where a student works under a policy other than normal, the student and the sponsoring faculty member shall report in writing which governing policy applies.
• It must be one of the categories of efforts defined above in sections 1 through 4 above.
• The report is made to the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee through the respective deans.
• The dean might request justification for the change from the student, and might also recommend to the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee that the change not be approved.
• In the normal case the dean’s signature on the report indicates concurrence with the requested change in classification.
• It is recommended that each school receive a written confirmation of student awareness of the intellectual property policy upon admission to the University, and thereafter on an annual basis.

1. The president shall appoint an Intellectual Property Advisory Committee consisting of seven full-time faculty members and one representative from the Office of Business and Finance.
• There shall be one representative from each of the four schools, one from the library, and two at-large members representing the Faculty Senate.
• The president shall solicit one nomination each from each school deans, one from the Library director, two from the moderator of the Faculty Senate, and one from the vice president for business and finance.
• To maintain the committee composition described above, a member resigning before the end of his/her term must be replaced by an individual nominated from the same unit as the resigning member and appointed by the president to serve the remainder of the unexpired term.
2. Each member of the committee shall be appointed for an initial four-year term, with no limit on the number of terms a member may serve. Terms shall be staggered, so that two terms shall expire each year. To ensure continuity, each of the original members of the committee shall serve an initial four-year term, then be re-appointed for one, two, three, or four years.
3. The president shall designate one of the seven faculty members on the committee to serve as chairperson for the remainder of that member's current term, or such shorter period as the president desires.

 

 

Note:
To maintain continuity, it is recommended that the member appointed committee chair shall have served on the committee for at least one year previous to appointment as chair.
 

4. The committee shall meet as necessary, and shall act in an advisory capacity to the president or his/her designee.
5. Faculty, staff and students shall promptly report to the committee in writing, through the appropriate channels, all intellectual property invented or created by them which is reasonably likely to have commercial value.
6. The committee shall report on a regular basis to the president and the Faculty Senate on any intellectual property activities or developments. 

1. The Intellectual Property Advisory Committee shall recommend to the president or his or her designee the rights and equities in intellectual property including but not limited to patents, copyrights, and software created by faculty, staff or students of the institution.
2. In the event of a disagreement as to the ownership and use of such materials, the president shall appoint an appeal board of not less than three and not more than five individuals to hear the appeal.
• Membership on the appeal board can be from inside or outside the University.
• The president shall be able to consider requests from the appealing parties and also be able to consult with appropriate members of the University System of Georgia staff in appointing the appeal board.
• The ruling of the appeal board shall be advisory to the president, who will make the final decision; the president’s decision may be appealed to the Board of Regents (Board of Regents Bylaws, VIII).

1. To develop and manage its licensing program through an independent assistance organization so as to secure competent evaluation of intellectual property, expeditious filing of applications for patents, or other protection and aggressive licensing and administration of intellectual property; or
2. To develop and manage its licensing program through an affiliated nonprofit corporation such as the Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc., the Georgia Tech Research Corporation or other nonprofit organizations established for this purpose; or
3. To develop and manage independently its own licensing program; or
4. To release intellectual property to which the institution has title or an interest to the inventor or creator for management and development as a private venture after the execution of an agreement providing for a suitable division of royalty income. 

The following plan shall be used to determine ownership and royalty revenue share:
 

Type of Intellectual Property	Creator(s)' Ownership Rights	Creator(s)' Share of Annual Gross Royalty Revenues
Sponsor- Supported	If Southern Polytechnic receives rights from the sponsor, the creator(s) shall be offered at least 50% of ownership, and agree to assume an equal percentage of the ownership costs (regardless of the property's revenue).	The entire first $10,000. At least 50% of royalties beyond the first $10,000.
Institution- Assigned	None	The entire first $10,000. At least 50% of royalties beyond the first $10,000.
Institution- Assisted	The creator(s) shall be offered at least 50% of ownership, and agree to assume an equal percentage of the ownership costs (regardless of the property's revenue).	The entire first $10,000. At least 50% of royalties beyond the first $10,000.
Individual Effort	100% of ownership and costs	100%
Other	Case-by-case basis	Case-by-case basis
Student	Plan 1-4 as designated	Plan 1-4 as designated