Students question IIT-B’s intellectual property rule, but alumni give it a thumbs up

Members of the IIT-B alumni said that the policy is “student-friendly” as it protects the students from various patent-related difficulties.

Students of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) have, of late, begun to question the institute’s rule on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) that states that any intellectual property produced by IIT-B personnel (student/staff/research scholars/post-doctoral fellows) will be owned by the institute. Members of the IIT-B alumni, however, said that the policy is “student-friendly” as it protects the students from various patent-related difficulties.

While the IP policy is similar across all IITs as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), royalty sharing models have differed, claimed students. (HT file photo)

“After putting the better half of one’s academic time on inventing something that can generate revenue for them, it seems unfair that the institute claims ownership just because one used the resources of the institute for their product. But apparently that’s how it works,” stated an article by students of IIT-B released in the latest edition of Insight—the in-house student magazine of the institute. The article not only analyses the institute’s IPR policy but also compares the same with other IITs in the country as well as top universities abroad.

While the IP policy is similar across all IITs as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), royalty sharing models have differed, claimed students. In IIT-B and IIT-Kanpur, the share depends on revenue generated on the IP. However, one thing all institutes, including the IITs and the MIT follow is that the copyright on thesis is solely given to the student who has authored it. “Most institutes also have similar ideas of ‘resources’ so it looks like the policy has been designed keeping in mind the rules and regulations followed by other top universities,” said a student, requesting anonymity.

The article also incorporated views of a few ex-students of the institute to understand the policy better. “In terms of royalty charges, revenue distribution and exclusive licensing, the current policy is student-friendly because filing a patent on your own can be quite expensive and take a long time. Therefore, this policy gives them the much-needed protection,” said Ashray Malhotra, an IIT-B alumnus.

IIT-B’s intellectual property policy

*IIT-B owns all the intellectual property that is produced by all IIT-B personnel (student/staff/research scholars/post-doctoral fellows)

*IIT-B can always use the intellectual property for academic and research purposes without soliciting the creator’s permission, irrespective of any license granted

*Revenues earned will be shared by with the inventor(s) in a 70:30 ratio

*Before licensing to third party groups, IIT-B will always consult the creator of the intellectual property

*The type of license provided will depend on the nature of the innovation. IIT-B encourages non-exclusive licensing. However, under certain exceptions, the institute might consider exclusive licensing.

*IIT-B can approach the license and terminate the exclusive criterion, and license it to someone else instead