Intellectual Property Rights and Confidentiality Dr Richy Hetherington

Universities are expected to seek opportunities to exploit for social or economic benefit research funded in whole or in part from public funds. Urine flow meter men can use at home for more accurate readings Food with alginates that can counter fat absorption and counter obesity New antibiotics or new more effective cancer treatments Or computer games to help assess childrens eyesight for early diagnosis of potential problems In order to take project forward the ideas must be protected so they can get the investment needed to be exploited.

Protection of Intellectual Property Patent Trade Mark Design Rights Copyright Non-Disclosure There are several ways to protect Intellectual property. The two key ones for us are Patents and Non-disclosure and they are linked. A patent is an agreement with the Governments that exchanges information on how a new idea or invention works for 20 years exclusivity on the use of that idea or invention The patent can only be granted if the idea or invention is novel – if anyone can show the idea has been done before (prior art) then a patent can’t be granted. So it is vital that any research that could lead to a patent is kept out of the public domain. Once ideas are out there companies use Trade Marks and Design Rights to protect their brands to retain customer loyalty. Copyright protects the words or a performance and is an automatic right on anything that is produced.

Relevance to you Keep Secret any information about your research Supervisor consent prior to Publication including conference presentation Be aware you could be requested to assign IPR to the University – and benefit as if you are a member of staff Any member of staff is bound by their contract of employment to keep confidential any proprietary information and they will be offered a share of the proceeds of any invention they are part of. As a postgraduate student you have not entered into any such agreement. Until you sign this confidentiality agreement that is an appendix to your Learning Agreement.

Ideas that don’t relate to your research If you have an idea that you think has commercial potential, or could be used to benefit society. The Careers service have a team who can help you. If you aren’t sure whether your idea related directly to your research ask your Supervisor what they think and if there is any doubt as the Business Development Manager for your institute. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/careers/startup/

Questions http://www.ncl.ac.uk/res/about/office/enterprise/fms Enterprise team, Faculty of Medical Sciences Ground floor, Leech building fmsenterprise@ncl.ac.uk