Business participation means the participation of a person in any activity the purpose of which is the commercial development or exploitation of intellectual property owned by each component university. Such participation includes, but is not limited to an equity interest, a consulting relationship, service on a board of directors or similar body, a royalty interest, stock ownership, or any similar relationship. Under federal law, copyright subsists from the moment of the work's creation, although protection may be enhanced by registration with the United States Copyright Office. E. Firmware means computer software, all or a portion of which has been more or less permanently burned or encoded on a read-only memory or equivalent device. Intellectual property rights include but are not limited to patents, copyrights, and rights to trade secrets and know-how.
Inventor means any person who discovers or invents technology.
J. President means the President of any component university under the governance of the Board, or any person the President designates to carry out the component university's intellectual property policy. K. Software means any program, language, or procedure for a computer system or portion thereof, and any accompanying documentation. Software includes but is not limited to computer programs, internal programs, subroutines, assemblers, generators, subroutine libraries, compilers, operating systems, and application programs. L. Technology means discoveries, innovations, or inventions. M. University research means all research, activities, or work within or related to a person's expertise or general area of employment responsibility, or that has resulted from activities performed by the person on university time, with the support of university funds, or using university facilities, including work under a research agreement with an external sponsor and research conducted by anyone, whether or not a person as defined in this policy, who utilizes university resources.