CloseWho owns student intellectual property (IP)?
3 MINUTE READ
As a student, you need to be aware of your intellectual property (IP) rights and responsibilities. Understand what you can – and can’t – do with your IP.
As a student, you create IP at the University in a variety of ways. You can be the sole contributor or co-creator of IP. Your supervisor is often a co-creator.
Ownership of IP you create or co-create also depends on:
- if you are also employed by the University
- the terms of any relevant agreement that you or the University have signed.
Student-owned IP
Student-owned IP
As a student at the University, you own any IP you create as part of your studies, unless there is an agreement with an external organisation.
You can publish any material if:
- you have independently developed the material
- the material is not covered by an agreement with an external organisation.
Student IP and commercialisation
Student IP and commercialisation
If you plan to protect or commercialise any IP you own, you may decide to assign your ownership to the University. In return, you will receive a share of the revenue in the same way a staff member would.
If you’re thinking about commercialising your IP, you should get independent legal advice about the management and use of your own IP.
Specified agreements and collaborative projects
Specified agreements and collaborative projects
A ‘specified agreement’ is an agreement between the University and an external organisation which includes intellectual property ownership or obligations.
This type of agreement controls the ownership or use of any IP that comes from an activity, including research. Examples include research contracts, studentship agreements, and funding agreements.
The University owns all IP (other than 'scholarly works') that students create while working on projects when there is a specified agreement in place.
This also applies if you receive a stipend funded by the external organisation.
The University may make revenue from commercialising the IP you create. When this happens, we share this revenue with you as the creator.
If you are:
- the sole creator of the IP, you receive 40 per cent of the net commercialisation income
- a co-creator, you receive a share of 40 per cent of the net commercialisation income.
You need to be aware of the IP rights and responsibilities of everyone involved if you are working on:
- team-based projects
- collaborative projects with your supervisor
- ongoing programs in large research centres. For example, Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence and Cooperative Research Centres.
In general, we advise you not to sign any legal agreement with an external organisation to do with your research at the University.
If you’re asked to sign any form or agreement, talk to your supervisor.
Supervisors and IP
Supervisors and IP
Your supervisor often contributes intellectual input to the development of a research project.
It’s important to respect the rights of joint contributors. Talk to your supervisor to define, agree on and document IP issues before the project starts.
This agreement will also be helpful if, or when, you leave the University.
Students as staff members
Students as staff members
If you are also employed part-time by the University, we own any IP you create during your employment. This includes casual employees.
You should separate the work you do as a student from the work you do as an employee.
Talk to us
Talk to us
General questions
If you have a general question or don’t know who to talk to, get in touch with us and we’ll point you in the right direction.
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Find a contact
Our local Business Development team members and central IP and Tech Transfer services team are here to help.
Business Development team
IP & Tech Transfer Services team