You need to read your university's guidelines for this as each is different. Cambridge for example has an in-house organisation specifically dedicated to dealing with spin-offs and patenting ideas formulated at the university, although I don't know how common something like this is. I don't remember Sheffield having a group like this, but I do remember the undergrad handbook saying that all research carried out at the university is owned by them!
Uni Work Ownership
- Thread starter sid
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It is usually the case that submitted work is owned by the university, know someone who had made a potentially very successful bit of software for his final year project and didn't submit it to keep it to himself, on his supervisors advice. He has since made a fricking fortune.
sweet so you PAY THEM £50k for 5 years study they they get your ideas!!! nice scam...
But 99% of the time the research you do as an undergrad isn't your idea anyway, it's just a slight and obvious variation on existing research which your supervisor is undertaking.
Associate
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What are you on about? What ideas? Think before reacting? If you have anything which you think may result into a financial profit make your own company.
For me this was the case for any designs & finished pieces should the university want them.
Speak to a professional. Last thing you want to to do is haggle for more and have them withdraw the offer completely. They may very well be giving you 5% under the illusion you don't know you're entitled to more.
If you do sign anything read it thoroughly!
Soldato
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You need to check your uni's terms and conditions. It might be worth getting legal advice - the first consultation can sometimes be free.
It is possible that you werent entitled to anything and your uni are being generous.
It is possible that you werent entitled to anything and your uni are being generous.
Why would you expect 10%, or is this just the usual GD crap of talking about something you know nothing about?
I signed an agreement before I started my project saying a company get x%, the university get y% and I get z% of any future profits from my work. There won't be any so I didn't make an effort to remember the exact figures.
Exactly.
Didn't Bill Gates and the likes of the Google duo pull out of their university education, for this reason? To take their ideas away from the Uni and own them 100%, then market them.
Bill Gates: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bill...u-I-d-Come-Back-and-Get-My-Degree-56850.shtml
Google duo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin
In any case, 5%...count yourself lucky. Sign whatever they want you to and accept the 5%. That would be my advice. I'm shocked that the Uni even bothered contacting you and are then offering you 5%.
There are many keyboard warriors on here, who would have you spend £1ks on hiring a patent lawyer and to fight some sort of case on your behalf...but unless you are prepared to go "all the way", I wouldn't bother. And before you ask how much it would cost to fight (using a lawyer)?...A lot. If you were going to fight a big organisation, say, you could easily spend a 6 figure sum. Easily.
Even filing a group of patents, through a patent lawyer (with no battle), costs stacks of cash. If you are fighting a patent...then expect to re-mortgage your (or your parents') home, if you have one.
What you could do is speak to a patent lawyer for say 2 hours. Take all documentation with you. He may charge you £100/hour, but at least he will give you some advice. From then on you have a choice - fight all the way OR accept the 5% offer (or perhaps the lawyer will give you a 3rd option).
Ultimately, it depends on how badly you want to fight for your work and whether you believe that you can win the battle, then take your work and make it commercially successful. If you think you can do this, then by all means...fight.
Most academics do not have the acumen to bring a project/idea to market. The google duo and zuckerberg are unique in that they had the "balls" to break away from their university, take the risk and make their idea entirely their own. Most academics wouldn't dare do something like this. You have to ask yourself the question: how big are your balls?
Anyway, what ever you decide...good luck and I wish you all the best.
They likely do own the work but they've offered him 5% and there isn't any harm IMO in stating that he's interested and putting forward an argument for more. I don't mean demanding it but simply detailing why he believes he deserves more.
Only if you sign a contract stating that and generally it will only apply to stuff directly to do with their business - even then its fairly limited. A couple of senior developers where I work have had books published on technical subjects. Others have got involved in open source projects or published iphone apps. We do have a clause in our contract relating to work carried out outside the company but it is fairly limited in scope in that you'd only really be breaching it if you developed and marketed rival software.
It won't give you any idea at all. For example a doman name can be registered for a small fee, it could expire worthless or could be sold for thousands - the fee to register a doman name isn't an indicator of the domain's value.
The fact that out of hundreds of thesis topics the university has chosen to pursue a patent on this one probably is a good indicator that it has value.
10 years ago when i was at uni we were told all work done was owned by the university, so I would snap there hand off for the 5% offer.
I now work for a big corporation, and they also say any work done during work time, or using work resources is owned by them.
I now work for a big corporation, and they also say any work done during work time, or using work resources is owned by them.
I'm no expert at all, just using a bit of logic to add my thoughts.
Surely they may own all of the work submitted, but not the concept? Ie, they may own all of the documents, drawings, designs etc, but not the actual rights to the product, since it was submitted as your project, your supervisors ideas etc. Your supervisor and you can prove you and him created it, beforehand.
No?
Surely they may own all of the work submitted, but not the concept? Ie, they may own all of the documents, drawings, designs etc, but not the actual rights to the product, since it was submitted as your project, your supervisors ideas etc. Your supervisor and you can prove you and him created it, beforehand.
No?