His main concern is that the university would not develop the software in the best interests of the business. But if the university decided to do so, I don't think there's much I could do about it. The experience has taught him how to protect his projects in the future. Mr. Portney says that officials who were most involved in the negotiations have left the university. Tufts officials who handle technology issues say they have not analyzed the case closely.
Policies can vary widely from college to college.
Some, including the University of Washington and Stanford University, assert ownership of patentable software, but they don't touch copyrightable software unless it was produced through a grant-funded research program, assigned to the professor, or produced through substantial use of university resources, to name a few scenarios. In most cases, the universities get some rights to software if they help professors market the product. The university has certain rights to the software in other situations. Some policies don't mention software at all. Others only mention it in passing.