There is no requirement for you to
disclose IP which you own yourself,
although you may of course do so if
you wish. If, say, you are a student
and you would like UMIP to help
commercialise IP which you own,
then feel free to disclose it to UMIP
in confidence. UMIP will let you
know if it can help with
commercialisation. You should bear
in mind, though, that if you are in
contact with UMIP, the University
Contracts Team or any of the
University's other authorised agents,
their responsibility is to promote the
best interests of the University and
not those of individual staff
members or students. Although they
can give general guidance, you
should seek your own independent
legal advice to ensure that your
interests are looked after.
Protection
Once IP has been disclosed to
UMIP, if it thinks after consultation
that there is potential for the IP to
be profitably commercialised, UMIP
will take steps to protect it by
patenting it or through other means
(generally at its own expense). Some
IP, such as copyright, cannot be
protected by registration, but needs
to be safeguarded in other ways.
There is information in "IP and
Confidentiality: A Researcher's
Guide" (available via the UMIP
website – www.umip.com) and on
the University's intranet IP
Awareness Resource
(www.manchester.ac.uk/ipresource)
telling you how the different types
of IP are protected and suggesting
tips as to things you can do yourself
to protect the IP.
An impressive 65% of our
research activity is judged
to be 'world-leading' or
'internationally excellent'
27
