Below are briefly described the main steps and most important aspects of the process for the protection of intellectual property included in the University regulation on intellectual property:
1. Technology disclosure
The Researcher who has authored works that can be patented, registered or protected, must inform the Division for the Valorization and Impact of Research at UniTrento using the "Invention disclosure form" or the "Software disclosure form", which must be complete and duly signed.
Forms:
The Forms are available on the Service Desk dedicated page.
2. Intellectual Property Committee
The role of the Committee is to assess the filing of the patent application and to make a decision about it.
3. Exploitation of intellectual property and distribution of revenue
The University, in collaboration with the researcher, takes action to exploit the protected work, with appropriate sharing of benefits.
Any revenue generated by the exploitation of the work is distributed based on the provisions laid down in article 14(1) of the Regulation:
- 50% to the researcher [Note: when this share must be distributed among several researchers, the shares are based on each one's contribution to the research work, as described in the Form that they have completed. Where the agreement did not provide for the distribution of profits, the latter will be divided in equal shares];
- 20% to the department or centre participating in the project;
- 30% to the University.
Expenses incurred by the University to protect and exploit the work will be subtracted from the revenue before distributing the shares.
When the University's intellectual property rights are licensed or transferred to an accredited or unaccredited company, and a shareholder or CEO or executive of the company is the inventor or author of the intellectual property that is being transferred or licensed, they will not have any share of the revenue generated by the exploitation of the work (Article 8 of the Regulation).