By Philip Mendes

All universities and other research organisations (for brevity, the term “university” is employed, and refers not just to a university, but to all forms of a non-for-profit research organisation) have intellectual property (IP) policies. Like other policies, they serve an important function, stating the university’s position upon diverse matters ranging from conflicts of interests, to paid outside employment by academic staff, and from campus security to the use of the university’s libraries.