As established by Regulations on the industrial and intellectual property rights of the UPC:
Industrial property
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- The student is responsible for the ownership and exploitation rights of the inventions that he has developed within the framework of an academic activity.
- In the case of inventions made by the students of the UPC together with staff from the UPC, the ownership and exploitation rights of the invention correspond to the student and to the University, in the proportion that corresponds to them taking into account the significant and original intellectual contribution of each one in the development of the invention.
- In both cases, the UPC has reserved a right of use for academic, teaching and research activities on inventions, although the inventor may revoke it at any time by submitting a written application to the UPC, in which he has to set out the reasonable reasons why he decides to revoke this right [art. 4.1.1.].
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Intellectual property (copyright) |
- Corresponds to the student of the UPC the authorship and ownership and exploitation rights of the works he has developed within the framework of an academic activity.
- In the case of works resulting from works developed by the students of the UPC together with staff from the UPC, the authorship corresponds to both the student and the staff of the UPC, and the ownership of the exploitation rights corresponds to the student of the UPC and to the University, in the proportion that corresponds to them taking into account the significant and original intellectual contribution of each one in the development of the work.
- In both cases, the UPC reserves the right to use it for academic, teaching and research activities on the work, although the author may revoke it at any time by submitting a written request to the UPC, in which he has to set out the reasonable reasons why he decides to revoke this right [art. 4.1.2].
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Assignment of rights |
- The student and the University may agree to the assignment of the exploitation rights on the results of the student in favor of the UPC, in order that the University is in charge of the tasks of protection and exploitation.
- In this case, the student of the UPC and the University must sign an assignment agreement, in which the compensation corresponding to the student must be established [art. 4.2].
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Co-ownership agreement |
- In case of co-ownership between the student of the UPC and the University, both parties must sign a co-ownership agreement, which must establish the regime of protection and exploitation of the results, and the rights and obligations corresponding to each party, taking into account the participation of each in the results. [art. 4.3].
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On the other hand, as detailed in the following articles of the Regulations on the industrial and intellectual property rights of the UPC, the exploitation of the Work subject to agreements with companies it is subject to the clauses of an agreement or contract that determine the confidentiality and/or ownership of the industrial and intellectual property on the results.
Agreement or contract |
- The development of a research project by members of the university community in the framework of its activity in the UPC, in collaboration or on behalf of third parties, regardless of the branch of knowledge to which it belongs, requires the prior signing of an R&D agreement, a collaboration agreement or a contract works of a scientific, technical or artistic nature or of technical support, as the case may be, in the terms provided for by the internal regulations of the UPC which is applicable [art. 6.1.].
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Ownership of rights |
- The system of ownership of the rights to the results obtained in the framework of the execution of the corresponding agreement or contract, as well as the distribution of the exploitation rights deriving from them, must be provided for in the agreement or contract [art. 6.2].
- When carrying out these activities and negotiating agreements or contracts, the rights that may correspond to the UPC under the Regulations [art. 6.3].
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Other related articles of the Academic regulations for undergraduate and master's degree studies UPC (NAGRAMA) are:
TFG / TFM and confidentiality (art. 3.1.5) |
- In the event that the TFG/TFM contains information and/or documentation of a confidential nature or aspects that affect the protection of intellectual and/or industrial property rights, it must be brought to the attention of the court, before it is taken carry out the public defense of the work, so that it can establish the necessary mechanisms to ensure the non-publicity of these aspects. [...].
- The student can request the confidentiality of the work to the professor responsible for the direction, coordination or tutoring of the TFG/TFM or to the speaker, in case the project is developed in a company. This request must include an end date (with a maximum period of 5 years, as a general rule) and documentation that justifies it such as, for example, the confidentiality agreement between the company and the UPC. [...]. The professor or the speaker can also directly propose the confidentiality of the work to the management of the center [...].
- If the end date of the confidentiality exceeds 5 years, the documentary justification must also include this aspect and that there is explicit authorization from the centre's management.
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Deposit of the TFG / TFM (art. 3.5) |
- The TFG/TFM are deposited in UPCommons in open access. Authors may apply a Creative Commons license, with which they specify the conditions of use they authorize for their work.
- Open access publication a UPCommons of the TFG/TFM does not imply any transfer of the exploitation rights of the TFG/TFM to the UPC.
- Authors may object to the access, consultation and loan of the TFG / TFM when their rights to privacy, honor and / or image are violated, or when confidentiality obligations assumed by the TFG / TFM are violated. author, when documented, in accordance with section 3.1.5 of these regulations [...].
- In the event that confidentiality obligations are violated or that the author or the director plans to publish a part of the TFG/TFM document in an article or scientific congress that does not allow its prior dissemination, it will apply a maximum period of 5 years of embargo in the TFG/TFM, which, once this period has passed, is published in open access.
- They will also be excluded from publication in open access to UPCommons those TFG / TFM that contain unauthorized personal data
- Right of revocation: authors can request, in a justified way, the modification of the publication regime of the TFG/TFM from open to restricted access or vice versa. In the first case, the request must detail the reason (the TFG/TFM contains information and/or documentation of a confidential nature or aspects that affect the protection of intellectual and/or industrial property rights, the need of establishing an embargo on open access publication to ensure compliance with confidentiality obligations, vulnerability of the right to honor, etc.). To process this request, you must complete the corresponding form of the Electronic Headquarters UPC.
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As detailed in the ATENEA TFE procedure, when a student submits confidential work, they must attach a document justifying the confidentiality and indicate the term of the confidentiality. Subsequently, the director must validate this confidentiality and, if necessary, modify it.
Some important aspects to remember in relation to the articles mentioned in the regulations UPC are:
Industrial property |
- If the student wants to create an invention derived from his work, he should communicate to the University that he has an interest that it be protected. This communication should be prior to the public defense of the work, which allows to guarantee the confidentiality of the content by the same author or any other person (for example, the members of the evaluation panel).
- It should be kept in mind that confidentiality is essential to apply for a patent for a future invention, "a document that guarantees the enjoyment of the industrial property of an invention to the beneficiary who registers it and which grants exclusive use rights for a period determined" [Cercaterm].
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Intellectual property (copyright) |
The authors of the academic works holding the intellectual property are those who may reproduce, distribute, publicly communicate and transform them, and / or assign their exploitation rights to third parties. However, any act of exploitation can only be carried out as long as these requirements are met:
- The work does not violate the intellectual property rights of third parties.
- There is no agreement or contract signed with third parties whose conditions prevent its exploitation. For example, this would be the case of a TFG subject to confidentiality because it is required by the company where it was made, which is detailed in the corresponding agreement.
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