Intellectual Property & Copyright Issues
Intellectual property (IP) encompasses creations of the mind—such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images—used in commerce. In a university setting, IP often arises from faculty, staff, and student research and scholarship.
Universities play a pivotal role in generating IP through their research initiatives and also act as significant consumers of IP in their educational endeavors.
Effective IP management within academic institutions fosters innovation, facilitates technology transfer, and ensures that the benefits of research are shared with society.
- Policies regarding UA intellectual property can be found in Collective Bargaining Agreements which are available online at UA's Labor and Employee Relations webpage.
- The Board of Regents Policies and Regulations Chapter 10.07.050. Inventions, Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Intellectual Properties
Copyright Issues
Copyright and intellectual properwhatty rights may attach to files of any media type, including software, texts, databases, images, video, music & other audio files. Abuse of computing or network technologies to copy or distribute materials in violation of copyright, license, or intellectual property rights undermines the free exchange of ideas and access to information resources central to the university's mission and is expressly forbidden by University Policy and Regulation.
The University of Alaska aggressively investigates specific claims of such abuse, including abuses using personally owned computers connected to the university's network. Verified abuses may lead to immediate suspension of access to university networks and/or computing resources, subject violators to possible university disciplinary action, and expose them to fines, other civil penalties, and criminal prosecution by copyright owners.