Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/112322
UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES Why the University owns IP There are many obligations imposed on the University. Some of these arise from its status as a charitable institution which means that it needs to protect its assets (including IP). It cannot just give them away for free, unless it is satisfied that those assets will be used to further its charitable objectives. For example, the University could not simply ���hand over��� a valuable new invention to a company, but it could give away teaching materials in support of a literacy project. Other obligations may arise through grant conditions imposed on it, or through contracts which it enters into to fund aspects of its operations, such as research. As a result, the University needs to be able to control the IP which it creates. Of course, what ���it creates��� is in fact created by you as its employees. There are some situations where it is possible to disseminate IP freely or transfer it to you as its creator, whilst still meeting the University���s objectives. The IP Policy governs all of this. As a matter of law generally, all the IP which you create in the course of your employment will automatically belong to the University as your employer. The IP Policy simply reflects this. Moral rights also do not arise in relation to works you create in your role as an employee of the University. Performers��� rights are personal rights and you give the University a licence to use these for its administrative, promotional, educational and teaching purposes. 10 Q - What counts as being in the course of employment? A - We all have outside interests. The University recognises that not everything you do in life is in the course of your employment. So, what does this legal phrase ���course of employment��� mean? There is no absolute definition, but it would depend on your job as described in your contract of employment and how that had developed over the years. Deciding what is or is not part of your job description is therefore not just a question of what you do on and off University premises, or what you do from 9am to 5pm. Clearly, if you work as a researcher in the Dept of Chemistry and write a crime novel at home on a Sunday, you have not written that novel in the course of your employment (even if the victim is poisoned). >>>