QUESTION
Who owns invention made in public school?
Asked on Mar 24th, 2014 on Intellectual Property - Massachusetts
More details to this question:
I created a website on my own and used a school computer to complete some of the project. My teacher told me because that I used some resources he thinks the school owns the content and is trying to take ownership for it. I never signed an agreement regarding intellectual property and there isn't a policy in our handbook. I did some research and since I wasn't hired to work and it wasn't part of school they shouldn't have claim right? Do they have any claim because I used school resources a small percentage of the time?
1 ANSWER
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Invention rights vest first in the inventor(s). Intellectual property rights can only be conveyed by a signed writing. If you are paid to create something, shop rights in the patent could be obtained by the entity paying you. If the school was not paying you and you did not sign an agreement to convey patent rights, I cannot think of any other means by which your invention rights could become the property of the school.
If it is a public school, the school is treated as a part of the government and is held to a higher standard under the Constitution to prevent government taking from private citizens. There may be additional facts that create an ownership dispute, but nothing in your details suggests the school has accrued any intellectual property rights in your project.
Answered on Mar 25th, 2014 at 4:13 PM