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Majors & Degrees

Intellectual Property

Policy 11.2
Approved by: President
Responsible Officer: VP for RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Responsible Office: RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Originally Issued: 09/27/2021
Last Revision: NEW
Category: RESEARCH, SPONSORED PROGRAMS, AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES
Related Policy
DSU Export Controls Policy 11.1
SDBOR Intellectual Property 4.9.1

I. REASON FOR THIS POLICY

This policy defines the responsibilities and procedures for DSU employees and students to disclose intellectual properties created through sponsored or faculty-driven research in compliance with South Dakota Board of Regents Intellectual Property policy 4.9.1.

II. DEFINITIONS

  1. Intellectual Property. Inventions, copyrights and copyrightable material, patents, trademarks, applications, trade secrets, and other forms or types of intellectual property that may emerge in the future. These may include, but are not limited to, new discoveries, course materials, or other forms of new knowledge/property, software, and print media.
  2. Creator and creators. Authors, inventors, or others whose creative activity yields results that may be protected as intellectual property, including both individual creators and groups of authors or inventors, be they employees or students contributing to sponsored or faculty-directed research, whose collaborative creative activities produced an intellectual property.
  3. Employee. For purposes of this policy, employees shall include full-time and part-time classified staff members, student employees, exempt staff members, faculty members, graduate assistants and associates, and persons with "no salary" appointments. Visiting faculty members, postdoctoral appointees, or other academic professionals who develop intellectual property using facilities or resources controlled by or administered under the authorization of the Board shall also be deemed employees, unless there is an agreement providing otherwise.
  4. Intellectual Property Committee. The Intellectual Property Committee (IPC) shall consist of representatives from Research and Economic Development, faculty, library, and administration.
  5. Intellectual Property Officer. The DSU employee who has authority on behalf of the institution, administrative unit, or office to administer intellectual property matters across campus.
  6. Public Disclosure: Public disclosure is any non-confidential communication made by an inventor or invention owner to one of more members of the public regarding the invention that provides sufficient information for an individual skilled in the industry to reproduce the invention thus nullifying the novelty requirement of patentability. Examples of public disclosure can include, but are not limited to, academic papers, article publications, conference presentations, investor funding pitches, lectures in classes, and news releases about the invention.
  7. Property Interest. Ownership by an individual or entity in creations of the human mind that may be protected under the law.

III. STATEMENT OF POLICY

All employees of the university have the responsibility to disclose the creation or discovery of inventions, unique works or manuscripts, or similar artifacts of intellectual property (IP) that may result in the formation of a property interest before making any public disclosures. Research and Economic Development (RED) shall exercise due diligence in evaluating potential IP on behalf of the Board of Regents and State of South Dakota. Moreover, where commercially valuable intellectual properties arise from federally funded research, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 requires disclosure of the property to the granting agency and generally regulates the commercialization of any such property and use of its income.

IV PROCEDURES (MAJOR)

  1. Employees shall submit a complete IP disclosure form, located on the RED website, to the Intellectual Property Committee (IPC).
  2. The IPC shall evaluate the submitted IP and determine next steps.
  3. The Intellectual Property Officer shall ensure institutional compliance with intellectual property disclosures and participate in the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Human Subject Training, if needed.

VI. POLICY HISTORY

ORIGINALLY ISSUED:07/29/2021
REVISED: NEW
LAST REVISION: NEW