Home > Topics > Institutional Policies and Strategies > Making the Most of Intellectual Property: Developing an Institutional IP Policy > Editor's Summary, Implications and Best Practices

A good institutional IP policy is the basis of sound IP management, since an IP policy defines IP ownership, patenting, the handling of confidentiality, and the process of invention disclosure. Each public-sector institution’s IP policy should be consistent with its mission. But establishing an IP policy is necessary for several important reasons:

1. IP rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and industrial property rights attach to research, administrative, and scholarly (including courseware) work products.
2. IP issues will arise whenever a public-sector institution enters into a research contract with a private-sector entity. A clear IP policy will help avoid problems.
3. Institutions are often required to have IP policies as a prerequisite for receiving government funding.

It will become increasingly important for public-sector research institutions to have clear IP policies as they become increasingly involved with national and global IP systems.

It is essential that an institution’s IP policy adequately reflect its mission and its priorities in achieving that mission. Institutions might envision themselves as playing several roles:

• disseminator of knowledge through teaching and publication;
• generator of research;
• technology transfer engine;
• promoter of economic development; or
• through education and service and/or through technology transfer.

This chapter describes the ways in which three very different public-sector organizations have formulated institutional IP policies that are consistent with their respective missions.

1. The mission statement of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) is as follows: “… to develop safe, effective and affordable new treatments for patients suffering from neglected diseases, and to ensure equitable access to these.”
2. The main missions of M.I.T. are the dissemination of knowledge, education, and research. However, the institution also is committed to public service, of which technology transfer is an important component.
3. The mission of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is to serve the global public interest.

An institutional IP policy should clearly explain how IP ownership is to be determined, while taking into account several factors: federal, local, and state laws; the legal rights of employers and employees; and contractual obligations. Other issues that should be addressed in an IP policy include:

• The procedures for public disclosure of intellectual property;
• the protocols and restrictions regarding the marketing, commercialization, and licensing of intellectual property;
• how income arising from the sale of intellectual property will be distributed; and
• the rights and obligations of inventors and the institution.

An IP policy also ought to identify how the policy is to be administered and enforced.

Importantly, any new or revised IP policy will have to be “sold” to people both inside and outside the institution. It is important to explain what the policy contains and why the policy is designed the way it is. Moreover, the policy should be easily comprehensible, provide incentives to participants, and establish IP management as a service to the community. Evidently, any policy should be applied consistently but also allow sufficient flexibility for unforeseen circumstances and evolving institutional frameworks. Internal discussions about the role and function of intellectual property, as well as discussions about the institution’s mission, should be encouraged during times when an IP policy is being formulated or revised.

In sum, an effective IP policy should fulfill three fundamental criteria:

1. Reinforce the core mission of the institution.
2. Flexible enough to allow the institution to pursue creative deals and arrangements.
3. Succinctness rather than a detailed list of instructions.

Key Implications and Best Practices

Given that IP management is heavily context specific, these Key Implications and Best Practices are intended as starting points to be adapted to specific needs and circumstances.

For Government Policymakers

• Public sector institutional IP policies are essential. They should be coordinated with governmental objectives as to the management and dissemination of national, public sector generated R&D. Therefore, it is important to encourage public sector institutions to develop and implement IP policies that serve the greater public interest.
• Work with public sector institutions as they develop IP policies. In addition to framing a policy within the context of an institute’s mission, the policy should also be consistent with national laws and related regulations. Appropriate guidance will help these institutions generate the greatest value from government funding in R&D.
• Consider national legislation, perhaps modeled after the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which assists and guides public sector institutions in formulating IP policies that create the greatest value, for the greatest public benefit, from government investment in R&D.

For Senior Management (university president, R&D manager, etc)

• An institutional IP policy should be consistent with the institute’s mission statement. It is critically important to make this the starting, middle and end of the policy itself. This is necessary in order to avoid the beguiling paradigm of intellectual property as (primarily) a means for financial return, that is, a revenue generator.
• Although an institutional IP policy should be firmly grounded in the institute’s mission, it should still be written with sufficient flexibility such that it does not constrain the institution’s options for the most effective utilization of its IP assets.

For Scientists

• Your institution’s IP policy will likely articulate ownership of intellectual property. Become familiar with these provisions so that you know what might, and might not, be the implications for you, your staff, and also any visiting scientists in your program.

For Technology Transfer Officers

Best practices in IP management in your institution ought to be grounded in its IP policy, which, in turn, should be based on the institution’s mission statement. Hence, this is the blueprint from which the technology transfer office’s guidelines, protocols and procedures are developed.

• It is the technology transfer officer’s responsibility to be thoroughly familiar with the institute’s IP policy. This is the basis for their actions and decisions.
• The institutional IP policy is a living, indeed dynamic, document. As you see opportunities for improving it, bring your suggestions to the attention of your institute’s upper level administrators and managers.