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General Regulation X - Intellectual Property Rights

A.    Academic work with Commercial Potential


In connection with their academic studies or research, students may become involved in work with commercial potential.

The Council of the University retains the right to require any student to assign his or her interests in any valuable rights arising from the financial exploitation of any work with commercial potential.  It is, however, the policy of the University to encourage such work and to ensure that whenever the terms of the grant or contract so permit any financial rewards are appropriately and equitably shared with those responsible for the work and/or with those responsible for directing the work and/or with those responsible for its exploitation.

Students shall in such circumstances be required, in conjunction with their supervisor, or the member of staff directing their studies:

(a)    To ensure that the Treasurer of the University is notified in writing of any device, materials, product or process, computer software or other result developed or obtained in the course of their academic work which it is considered might have commercial significance, whether patentable or not.

(b)    To ensure that the notification takes place in good time before publication or other disclosure and to withhold publication for a limited period if required to do so by the Council of the University.

It is the University's policy that all results shall be published. Delay in publication will only be required when it is necessary to secure patent rights or where the prior permission of the body which funded the work in question is required.

B.    Written Work


The intellectual property rights of any work (not covered by A above) produced by any student in the course of his/her study rest with the University.  This includes examination scripts, summative and formative coursework and projects or dissertations.  The University will not normally exercise those rights to prevent the publication of such work, thus allowing the student to publish his/her work freely whether for profit or not.  However, the University will assert its rights over the work to prevent publication where it deems publication to be unethical and/or likely to promote improper use of the work and/or to bring the University into disrepute, for example by promoting or facilitating plagiarism through the process of publication.