Intellectual Property (IP) Policy Waivers
The University of Maryland Intellectual Property (IP)Policy outlines the ownership, licensing, and protection of IP created by personnel and students at UMD. Occasionally, sponsors, particularly Foundations or other non-Federal sponsors, include terms or conditions in their award notices that do not conform to UMD’s IP Policy. In these cases, where ORA is unable to negotiate language in accordance with the ownership and licensing terms in UMD’s IP Policy, UMD may agree to waive certain requirements of the IP Policy. In these cases, the Principle Investigator (PI) and research team will need to decide whether to request a waiver to the IP Policy in order to permit UMD to accept the award. (Please see below for Blanket IP Waiver for Sponsor’s requiring Open Access of Data/Open Source Software).
When required, ORA will initiate an IP Policy Waiver request ("IP Waiver") via the Kuali Build (KB) UMD IP Waiver form which then must be reviewed and approved by the PI, the entire research team, Chair, and Dean in KB before proceeding for review by UM Ventures and the Vice President for Research (VPR) or designee. IP Waivers should be carefully considered before acceptance and signing, particularly when there are graduate students working on the research project. Any person(s) joining a project after the project starts, where an IP Waiver has been approved, is subject to the terms of the waiver. Departments are responsible for obtaining signatures for anyone who joins the project after the initial IP Waiver is processed/approved and keep the documentation on file.
Processing IP Waivers via KB
IP Waivers for sponsored projects will be initiated by ORA in KB and routed to the PI. The PI will receive an email notification to review/approve the IP Waiver in KB. This email will also contain a PDF of the IP Waiver Form that can be provided to the other individuals working on the project in order to obtain signatures on the Additional Signature Page form to be attached in KB by the PI. The PI must complete all the project specific questions in KB and upload the additional signature page(s) signed by others working on the project (if necessary) as an attachment. Once the PI approves the waiver in KB, it will route to the Department Chair, the Dean/Director, UM Ventures and/or the VPR. All parties have the option to return or approve the form.
Other situations may require a waiver of the IP Policy, including agreements signed by UM Ventures, gifts requiring special disposition of IP (open source or public domain releases), and UM Disposition of Current IP. In these other situations, please contact UM Ventures for more information on processing the waiver.
Kuali Build can be accessed at:https://usmd.kualibuild.com/app/builder/home
Blanket IP Waiver when Sponsor requires Open Access/Open Source
As of Dec 2023, Investigators submitting proposals to, or accepting awards from, sponsors which require that data and software developed under sponsored awards available to the public via open access repositories or open source licenses, may apply the Blanket IP Waiver. The memo,available here, outlines the process and responsibilities of the PI.