Policies and Documents
Policies
This policy of the University of Colorado has been established to accomplish the following objectives:
- To encourage the faculty and staff employees of the University to make all discoveries available for public use and benefit as efficiently and quickly as possible;
- To protect the University's primary role of teaching and research by regulating the involvement of the University, its faculty, staff employees, and all collaborators in the development of discoveries;
- To protect the potential equities of the University, its faculty and staff employees in discoveries; and
- To advance and encourage research within the University by providing a method of using royalty income from discoveries for research purposes.
This policy enhances the environment for development and commercialization of intellectual property such as inventions, patents and software. In this policy the University of Colorado reaffirms its commitment to academic freedom. The University of Colorado also encourages and rewards its discoverers and innovators who benefit society and who create significant economic resources for themselves, their research programs and the University.
This policy statement clarifies the rights, responsibilities and rewards for the University and its employees in the development and commercialization of educational materials. The University of Colorado in this policy, as elsewhere, reaffirms its commitment to the principles of academic freedom. The University of Colorado also reaffirms its commitment to encouraging and rewarding authors, creators, researchers and inventors who are developing intellectual property. The University supports the creative works of authors, who will under most circumstances retain broad rights in support of their creative endeavors. This policy does not change the traditional relationship between the University and employees who, independent from using substantial University resources, retain broad rights of ownership of scholarly and artistic works.
Documents
All faculty, and any other employee or student with responsibility for the design, conduct or reporting of research are considered critical to the research process and must disclose any significant financial interest and external professional activity that could compromise university decision making or duties.
Venture Partners at CU Boulder creates and implements an intellectual property (IP) strategy for research, inventions and creative works so CU innovators can understand their IP rights and obligations as they work with various collaborators, research sponsors and industry partners. Venture Partners manages and funds IP for hundreds of university inventions each year from CU Boulder, UCCS and CU Denver (except CU Denver investigators in the biosciences, who should work with CU Innovations).
Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) are legally binding contracts used to transfer tangible research material between two organizations (the provider and the recipient). MTAs specify the recipient's permitted uses of the material, determine rights granted to each party, and provide protections for each party's intellectual property.
MTAs are managed by the Office of Contracts and Grants.
Visit the Office of Contracts and Grandst (OCG) to Request an MTA
Non-disclosure Agreements (NDAs), also commonly referred to as Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDAs) or Proprietary Information Agreements (PIAs), are contracts between at least two parties which outline the proprietary/confidential information that the parties wish to exchange but want to restrict from wider use and dissemination.
NDAs are managed by the Office of Contracts and Grants.
Visit the Office of Contracts and Grandst (OCG) to Request an NDA
The IRS has issued a Technical Advice Memorandum (TAM) that may have a significant impact on income tax reporting for royalty payments received by faculty inventors. The university provides a Form 1099 each year to faculty receiving these payments.
This addendum ensures that your third party activities (such as consulting) do not conflict with your obligations to the university.
(Most) startups complete a Startup Option Agreement prior to executing a license. The option ensures that the startup has an exclusive period—one year and extendable to two years—during which to license the innovation. The option period provides the startup an opportunity to seek early milestones and traction before determining whether to move ahead with a license.