The University has first rights to acquire title to any invention conceived or first brought to practice that is related to the inventor's work assignment or invented while using University resources, subject to the rights of the sponsor. External sponsors may have some commercialization rights negotiated into the award agreement. If the University and the sponsor decide not to protect an invention, ownership rights are waived to the inventor. The Regents' policy on Intellectual Property provides details on intellectual property developed at the University. Data developed from conducting a sponsored project belongs to the University and, if negotiated beforehand, the sponsor.
Software is a form of intellectual property.
Like inventions developed using University resources, it belongs to the University. An invention is a new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or new and useful improvement upon them. A patent is a grant of property by the United States government to the inventor giving the owner of the patent the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention in the U.S. or importing it to this country. A US patent is granted for 20 years. A U.S. patent application must be filed within one year after the date of the first printed publication that discloses the invention.