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Can someone comment about IP issues around doing a startup during their phd? A few friends of mine are pursuing this route and are worried their university will

Can someone comment about IP issues around doing a startup during their phd? A few friends of mine are pursuing this route and are worried their university will say they own the IP. My understanding is that universities own all the research you do so any application of your research in your startup will infect the whole company's equity.

seanos 15y ago
Yes, in most cases the university will own any IP. Usually they will want a percentage of any spinout company resulting from PhD research. The best thing to do would be for them to speak to the university enterprise office (or equivalent).
GameBoyAdvance 15y ago
IANAL abut AFAIK it depends on the school. In general, yeah, the school owns the research. However, it might also possible to get an exclusive or non-exclusive license from your school, again, depending on the school. It will feel funny for a while to pay for your own research but such is life. I must also note that, the school might be willing to grant a non-exclusive license for a relatively small fee (a few grands; no equity) but an exclusive license will most likely set you back a lot more (in cash or in equity). I co-founded a company based on the research of a classmate years ago and that is exactly what we did. We paid Stanford for a non-exclusive license. I believe Google has done the same for PageRank but for an exclusive license.
HelgeSeetzen 15y ago
Depends on the IP policy of your university but generally the IP is owned by them (some universities outside of the US have an "inventor owned" policy). The good news is that you can leverage the university for your start-up in turn.(http://techentrepreneurship.com/2010/11/16/leveraging-the-technology-transfer-office/ http://techentrepreneurship.com/2010/11/16/leveraging-the-te...).

3 ms·

Can someone comment about IP issues around doing a startup during their phd? A few friends of mine are pursuing this route and are worried their university will

by whathappenedto 15y ago

seanos 15y ago
Yes, in most cases the university will own any IP. Usually they will want a percentage of any spinout company resulting from PhD research. The best thing to do would be for them to speak to the university enterprise office (or equivalent).
GameBoyAdvance 15y ago
IANAL abut AFAIK it depends on the school. In general, yeah, the school owns the research. However, it might also possible to get an exclusive or non-exclusive license from your school, again, depending on the school. It will feel funny for a while to pay for your own research but such is life. I must also note that, the school might be willing to grant a non-exclusive license for a relatively small fee (a few grands; no equity) but an exclusive license will most likely set you back a lot more (in cash or in equity). I co-founded a company based on the research of a classmate years ago and that is exactly what we did. We paid Stanford for a non-exclusive license. I believe Google has done the same for PageRank but for an exclusive license.
HelgeSeetzen 15y ago
Depends on the IP policy of your university but generally the IP is owned by them (some universities outside of the US have an "inventor owned" policy). The good news is that you can leverage the university for your start-up in turn.(http://techentrepreneurship.com/2010/11/16/leveraging-the-technology-transfer-office/ http://techentrepreneurship.com/2010/11/16/leveraging-the-te...).