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invention ownership across universities 3

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greycloud

greycloud

Mechanical
Apr 18, 2014
127
Hi guys

I'm working on an invention as a personal effort and would like to continue developing it with a university.

my question is what is the arrangement between the inventor and the university regarding the ownership of the invention?

Thanks for participating
 
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A contract will define it.
Put it in writing - signed.
 
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The university will want some level of IP ownership, how much will depend on what you are bringing to the table and how good a negotiator you are. Universities are also pretty picky on what they are willing to work on, you will need to pique their interest to even get to the contract negotiation point. Keep in mind that working with a university is not the same as contract design work. They will staff grad students on your project, maybe not even a fulltime one. It will take much longer to get a deliverable out of them and you may not be happy with the quality of the result. They will also want to publish papers about the work they perform.
 
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I understand that their should be a contract but I believe some universities have specific IP policies. A university may take long to achieve a result but I believe that is better than developing my invention with a multi national corporation. Another problem for me is how to present my ideas to different universities without having the fear they might steal my idea
 
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Problem is how to get such an agreement if I'm contacting a university in another country
 
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The few contracts I have seen basically make everything property of the university.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
 
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Contact a lawyer... you're obviously in over your head, and anything we say will be useless when a lawyer gets his hand on it. It's not like you're going to write your own contract anyway, so go directly to the experts.

Dan - Owner
URL]
 
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Heed the contract and disclosure advice. Also, get the invention started with a university in your country. You will compound all of your problems by going to another country.
 
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I should contact a lawyer to discuss nondisclosure agreements before contacting other universities. The universities in the country I live on don't have the capabilities or the will or laws to support inventions so I have to look elsewhere. Thanks for you advise guys. If you have anything else to say go ahead.
 
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Why can't you continue development on your own?
I.e., what do you expect a university to contribute?

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
 
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I can develop a working prototype on my own but problems start there.

first patenting inventions is expensive and in which country should I patent it?

second making a prototype doesn't mean making a product and I need funding and technical expertise to reach that stage.

Third, I will need funding to start a business once I got my product ready and I don't have that either. This is what a university can help me do in exchange for a percentage of ownership and profit.

My other option is to sell my invention but I think that I need a patent in order to do that, not sure though.
 
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From your last post, I think you may be heading down the wrong path...

Universities aren't really there to help you productize, they're there to research how to do something. They want to add patents to their IP list. If you can make a prototype yourself, then do it... the university will offer you little to nothing towards that goal. If you look at a university's IP sheet, it's just that, a listing of IPs they are willing to license to folks who wish to put it into a product. But they're not in the business of making said product. They will not generally help you with funding, either, that's what venture capitalists do.

Dan - Owner
URL]
 
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I get what you are saying, but let me rephrase what I said about the product part. universities won't make a product to commercialize but they can develop prototypes of actual size to show its full industrial potential ; take American universities for example, they cooperate with many industries including NASA to produce prototypes used directly in industry.then again, they might be getting funding for these projects.

Regarding funding, there are startups started by inventors who made their inventions with their universities, so do you think they had a third party funding.

let me know what you think.
 
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No, they generally do not. Otherwise, the third parties would have done the startups. Generally, university professors start companies based on their own research at the university, that was funded by the university, and with license from the university.

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
homework forum: //faq731-376 forum1529
 
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"that was funded by the university"

I'm not very clear on what you mean, do you mean that the research was funded by the university or that the university funded both the research and the company?
 
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then who funds such a company usually? if your telling me that neither the university or a third party would do the funding.
 
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