I.2 — Intellectual Property Rights

Document Control Information

Policy Code

I.2

Standard

I. Legal Compliance and Public Disclosure

Status

published

Version

1

Process Owner

Legal Council

Prepared By

Legal Council

Reviewed By

QAIE

BOT Approval

approved

First Issue Date

21 Sept 2023

Last Review Date

19 Jun 2024

Relevant To

DMU Stakeholders

Used With

—

Modification History

Purpose and Scope

1. The importance of identification, protection, and exploitation of potentially valuable research results.
2. The importance of exploitation of potentially profitable, creative, and intellectual work.
3. The need to balance the free flow of research findings among researchers with the need to protect commercially valuable outputs of research activity.
4. The increased costs of producing high quality courses and teaching/learning materials and the increased opportunities available for DMU to commercialize such materials.
5. These rules aim also to protect and respect the moral rights of originators of intellectual property. The DMU recognizes the right of originators to participate in decisions regarding the use and commercialization of intellectual property created by them.
6. To provide guidelines for signing the MOUs, partnerships, and Contracts.

Abbreviations and Definitions

Policy Statement

Policy Statement — Continued

1. All MOUs and partnerships should be following CAA standards, MOE standards and UAE Laws
2. All MOUs should be approved by the CAA or any other government authority as per the laws and regulations of UAE and CAA standards.
3. All Academic MOUs and Partnerships should obtain prior approval of CAA as per the Standards
4. All MOUs should be approved by the Dean, verified by the QA&IE department prior to entering into an agreement or partnership.
5. Approval of Academic and non-academic/administrative MOUs will be taken from CAA by QA&IE Unit members wherever required.
6. All academic and research MOUs should be evaluated and assessed prior to finalizing the partnerships.
7. Administrative and nonacademic partnerships should go through the vendor evaluation process prior to entering partnership or renewal of partnership.
8. Vendor assessment Form / MOU assessment form should be filled in prior to signing new contract or renewing a contract.
9. All MOUs must contain the date of commencement and end date, unless stated as autorenewal.
10. All Academic MOUs/Partnerships should be signed by the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and support services / VC of Research and Post Graduate Education or the Dean.
11. In case of absence of any of the above, the Associate Dean acting as Dean for the specified time during the absence of Dean may sign the MOU on behalf of the Dean.
12. The Dean may request any other Department Head to also sign as a witness.

• Research carried out by academic staff as part of their customary activities as members of the academic community. In this category, the exploitation of research results is a matter between the employer, and employee alone.
• Research is carried out with the support of grants from an external body, governmental or private. In this category, the staff member remains an employee of DMU; exploitation of research results is handled under the conditions of the research grants.
• Research carried out by students, the student is, of course, not an employee of DMU, although the supervisor will be, and where a student is supported entirely by external body, it is important that the student should be a party to a contract which includes provision for the protection, publication and exploitation of the research results and the proper sharing of any profit. 

• Commercial value, and/or patentable potential: The name of the last author usually indicates the budget holder or the Chair of the department or the most senior person in the team through whom the communication should be addressed when needed, unless the communication addressee is otherwise specified in the paper. (This conforms to Federal Law No. 11, 2021)

1. Subject to sections B.3, and B.5 of these rules, all intellectual property which is created by staff members in pursuance of the terms of their employment with the DMU vests in the DMU.
2. The intellectual property referred to in section B.1 is restricted to:
   1. intellectual property created in connection with a project to which the DMU has made a specific contribution of funding or other resources.
   2. patentable inventions including circuit layouts, computer programs, design, and plant varieties.
   3. copyright in original course and teaching/learning materials published by the DMU for use in award courses and continuing education programs offered by the DMU.
   4. copyright in films, sound recordings and multi-media to which the DMU has made a specific contribution in funding, resources, facilities, or apparatus.
   5. databases with potential commercial value.
   6. Projects which have incorporated intellectual property belonging to the DMU.
3. Subject to section B.5 of these rules, the DMU assigns to the originator copyright all materials generated by staff other than those specified in section B.2 of these rules.
4. Where the DMU owns the copyright, the DMU grants the originator a non-exclusive, royalty-free and irrevocable license to use the work for the originator's teaching and research at the DMU and, with the approval of the DMU, at other institutions.
5. Where the originator is the owner of intellectual property created in the course of employment with the DMU, the originator must grant the DMU a non-exclusive and irrevocable license to use the intellectual property for teaching and research without the payment of any fees.
6. In the case of intellectual property created by a student, that property is owned by the student. However, the student may assign the property to the DMU, in which case such property will be treated in the same manner as property generated by faculty member of the DMU.
7. At the commencement of the research program, the student and supervisor(s) may be required to meet with the head of department to determine an arrangement for the ownership of any intellectual property arising from the student's project.

Procedures & Guidelines

1. modification, the DMU shall ensure that the authorship is acknowledged in the publication. If adaptation or modification is proposed, the DMU shall consult with the originator concerning possible acknowledgment.
2. Where the DMU assigns or licenses a copyright which it owns, the DMU shall ensure that the assignment or licensing agreement requires the purchaser or licensee to consult with the originator concerning whether the authorship of the work should be acknowledged and the form that any acknowledgment should take.
3. The DMU may enter into agreements with external sponsors of research whereby the DMU agrees to relinquish or share all or part of intellectual property that results from externally sponsored or contract research with that sponsor or another party. In such cases, the ownership of intellectual property will be governed by that agreement.
4. Collaborations Even when faculty members collaborate with their former institutions, they should use DMU affiliation in their publication.

Procedures & Guidelines — Continued

• An originator of intellectual property must promptly report in writing to their department chair, in case of any invention or other work which, in the judgment of the originator, is a patent-worthy discovery or invention or intellectual property of commercial value.
• An originator must, if required by the Associate Dean of Research & Graduate Studies, execute any document, or take any actions reasonably required in relation to intellectual property created in part or whole by the originator for DMU to demonstrate or prove ownership to third parties or secure intellectual property protection. An originator must assist as required in work necessary to patent, market, license, register or otherwise commercialize remittable intellectual property.
• An originator must not apply for any form of protection for, or commercially exploit, any intellectual property which is the property of DMU without the prior approval of DMU.
• Where DMU owns intellectual property, which may be the subject of a patent application or subject to protection of confidential information, the originator may not disclose it or information about it, other than reasonable disclosure to persons employed by or contracted to DMU.

• To protect the interests of the originator and DMU, DMU may require a reasonable delay in making public the nature of remittable intellectual property until an application is filed to protect the interests of the originator and DMU.

• DMU may enter into an agreement with the originator, or another person or an outside organization with respect to the commercialization of intellectual property. DMU also may enter into an agreement with the originator for intellectual property to be sold or for a license agreement to be entered into in such cases, the DMU will ensure that the originator is consulted at all stages.
• Where DMU owns or partly owns intellectual property, any agreement with respect to the distribution of revenue will follow policies determined by the DMU University Council. This will apply to copyright or original course and teaching materials published by DMU for Use in award and continuing education programs offered by DMU as well as to other intellectual property owned by DMU.
• DMU and DMU partnership have the obligation to decide as soon as possible whether there is an interest in pursuing a patent or registration concerning remittable intellectual property owned by DMU.

• Licensing the use of a product/report
• Owner’s rights to allow others to use:
• It is the right of the author or the heirs to legally allow the beneficial use of the product or the report in any way, especially duplicating or publishing in any other way which includes social media and Information networks.
• The owner/inventor owns the right to file for patency to Ministry in accordance with Clause 8 of Federal Law.
• If it is not possible to understand, interpret, or apply any of the previous clauses, the Emirate of Dubai’s laws shall apply instead.

• made a significant contribution to the conception or design of the project or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND/OR
• drafted the work or reviewed/revised it critically for important intellectual content.
• This is a general guidance only and may not apply to all disciplines or journals which may set different standards.

Responsibilities for Application