{"id":1088,"date":"2019-11-01T13:13:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T13:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=1088"},"modified":"2019-12-16T18:48:41","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T18:48:41","slug":"ip-under-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/11\/01\/ip-under-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"IP UNDER PRESSURE"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lancaster’s new intellectual property (IP) policy has been unveiled, effective from 1 August 2019:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/research\/research-enterprise-services\/ip-support\/<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Well done to Research & Enterprise Services, who have put in a lot of work to create a policy and webpage that looks very helpful for staff. Some students may not be so happy, though.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As a reminder, here’s a rough primer on IP law: when an employee creates something in the course of their employment, the thing is the intellectual property of their employer (benevolent employers may, of course, seek to share the benefits). When a student creates something in the course of their studies, the thing is the intellectual property of the student (and they decide whether to share the benefits). Attempts in the 90s to require Lancaster students to sign their IP rights over at registration led to loud and vocal protests – and a climbdown by management.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Our new policy agrees that students own what they create, but some of the ‘circumstances where the University will require the student to assign their IP’ should be raising eyebrows. In particular, we now require research students to sign over their IP rights if they have ‘received significant financial support from the University (for example stipend or fee waiver) to undertake the research.’ For the avoidance of doubt, ‘this does not include any hardship or widening participation financial support.’ Readers may wonder whether this would stand up in court, unless the University is now claiming that university-funded research students should be classed as staff – in which case surely they should be granted employment protection and pension rights?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Similarly, any student who ‘builds upon existing IP generated by University staff’ or ‘participates in a research project funded by the University’ is required to sign over their IP. This might be acceptable practice for a principal investigator taking on new research associates, but research students are not the same as postdocs.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Lancaster already has a questionable reputation for making some of its funded research students carry out teaching – for no pay and no recognition of employment rights – as a condition of funding. Will be also be known as the place where funded research students are required to sign their intellectual property rights over – again, for no pay and no recognition of employment rights? subtext hopes very much that the PG Board was consulted about this.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lancaster’s new intellectual property (IP) policy has been unveiled, effective from 1 August 2019: https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/research\/research-enterprise-services\/ip-support\/ Well done to Research & Enterprise Services, who have put in a lot of work to create a policy and webpage that looks very helpful … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[528,533],"class_list":["post-1088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-issue-190","tag-legal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-hy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":867,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/12\/17\/shop-in-progress\/","url_meta":{"origin":1088,"position":0},"title":"SHOP IN PROGRESS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 17 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The former UniTravel on Alexandra Square is now occupied by 'Work in Progress'. Who they? At first glance, subtext was reminded of 'brand consultants' Perfect Curve from the BBC's W1A. We've got friendly big words - 'Ideas', 'People' - not many desks, and plenty of Post-Its. Was this an art\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1108,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/12\/13\/tiers-4-fears\/","url_meta":{"origin":1088,"position":1},"title":"TIERS 4 FEARS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 13 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributed article Many have found fault with the recent efforts of the Student Registry to track postgraduate research (PGR) students' attendance by 'provision in Moodle PGR Records to record supervisory meetings' (email to supervisors, 16.10.19). This new online system of recording all meetings between PGR students and their supervisors is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":264,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/12\/07\/yes-but-what-do-you-actually-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":1088,"position":2},"title":"YES, BUT WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY DO?","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 7 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yet another senior management post is currently being advertised, this time a Pro-Vice Chancellor for 'Engagement'. Some time ago, we supplemented our PVC for quality and standards and our PVC for the student experience with a new PVC for education, to add to our dangerously understaffed top floor. It then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":121,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/26\/shart-attack-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1088,"position":3},"title":"SHART ATTACK","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 26 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"FROM: Chris Heaton Harris, MP for Daventry. TO: Mike M. Shart, VC, Lune Valley Enterprise University (LuVE-U) Dear Professor Shart, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to supply me with the names of professors at your establishment who are involved in the teaching of European affairs,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "shart attack"","block_context":{"text":"shart attack","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/shart-attack\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1476,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2021\/02\/19\/taking-bailrigg-campus-by-strategy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1088,"position":4},"title":"Taking Bailrigg Campus by Strategy","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest draft of the University's strategic plan for 2020\u20132025, released following an extended period of consultation with staff, students and stakeholders, is now available to view on the Intranet: https:\/\/portal.lancaster.ac.uk\/intranet\/news\/article\/first-look-at-the-new-university-strategy What sort of place does the Vice-Chancellor think Lancaster will be in four years' time? Whereas our previous two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1224,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/letters-28\/","url_meta":{"origin":1088,"position":5},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, As the most recent Head of Department of the late School of Independent Studies, I am assuming I can consider inviting myself to authorise my own access to the University's IT and email? John Wakeford *** Dear subtext, Reading the letters in subtext 192, I was struck by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1089,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088\/revisions\/1089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}