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UK University IP Policies

On 15 February 2024, UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law hosted a conference, organised by Mark Anderson, Honorary Professor of Practice at UCL Faculty of Laws. The conference covered a wide range of issues relating to the commercialisation of university intellectual property, including ownership of IP created by academics, students and interns, treating students fairly under consumer protection laws, the evolution of IP and spinout policies, and the increasing number of commercial and IP court cases in the sector. As a follow-up to the conference, IBIL offered to collate university policies on IP and knowledge transfer and make them available to other universities.

The aim of this page is to enable university representatives to compare their policies with those of their peers, and see if they are missing any points, or wish to update any of their policies, particularly in light of the Oxford University Innovation Ltd v Oxford Nanoimaging Ltd [2022] EWHC 3200 (Pat) case.
 
As part of this exercise, we are proposing to work with PraxisAuril to identify trends with the view to producing a report on how the updated policies show that universities are responding to the Oxford case, to the University Spin-out Investment Term (USIT) Guide and to the government-sponsored Tracey/Williamson spinout review. As a first step, please send your policies to: ibil@ucl.ac.uk. The policies sent in will be added to the growing table below. By sending us your policies, you are consenting to them being made available to other universities and to PraxisAuril, and to the production of data on trends within the sector. (We will obtain your consent before referring to your university specifically in any report.)

InstitutionNotes
Aston University 
Babraham Institute 
Birmingham City University 
Coventry UniversityStudent IP Policy
Imperial College LondonCurrent policy
Imperial College London2020 policy
Lancaster University 
London School of Economics and Political Science 
Newcastle University 
Open University 
Rosalind Franklin Institute 
University College London 
University of Liverpool 
University of Manchester 
University of NottinghamNot yet available - in the process of being updated
University of Oxford 
University of St Andrews 
University of Strathclyde 
University of Sussex 
University of West LondonAcademic staff
University of West LondonStudents
University of York 
  

Also see: WIPO Database of Intellectual Property Policies from Universities and Research Institutions.

IBIL

IBIL Universities & Commercialisation conference 

You can find out more about the IBIL Conference held on 15 February here, or watch a recording of the panels here. 

UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law

Find out more about our Institute’s activities here.

Selected Publications

Mark Anderson, Naomi Hawkins and Alison Slade, ‘Contracts and intellectual property rights in translational R&D: furthering safeguards in the public interest’ (2024) 42 Nature Biotechnolgy 179. 

Mark Anderson, Legal Perspectives On: The complexities and considerations when spinning out companies from universities to commercialise research, published as part of the UCI Expert Insights Paper series.

CPD Events

Find details of IBIL’s CPD course on licensing and technology transfer here

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