Introduction to MIT’s Updated IP Policy

February 13, 2023

MIT’s Intellectual Property (IP) Policy is enumerated in Section 13.1 of MIT’s Policies and Procedures. Given MIT’s worldwide prominence in science and engineering, and the prolific creativity of MIT’s researchers, the way in which MIT manages IP generated by its community is an important policy to understand.

On January 26, 2023, Maria Zuber, Vice President for Research, announced that the Academic Council had approved an updated IP Policy, which was the result of a two-plus year effort involving many stakeholders on campus.  

Updates to the Policy are intended to:

  • be more user friendly (for example, by including definitions)
     
  • provide clarity (for example, by describing, with specificity, when MIT does not own certain IP; describing IP related conflict of interest policies; and setting forth the guidelines for when MIT may return MIT-owned IP to inventors and authors)
     
  • address the changing research landscape (for example, AI, non-patentable assets, and increased open access routes for IP)
     
  • modernize the categories that delineate what IP MIT owns (for example, by removing the ‘significant use’ analysis)
     
  • formalize process (for example, the IP Policy Committee – a subcommittee of the CoIP – to interpret the Policy in a consistent manner and to resolve disputes concerning inventorship and authorship)

The Policy also includes a thorough rationale for why MIT must own certain IP generated by its researchers. It is important that the MIT research community understand the obligations that MIT has with respect to ownership of IP, as well as understand the rights of the inventors, authors and contributors who generate the IP.  

The updated Policy encourages inventors, authors and contributors with questions to reach out to the TLO prior to disclosing IP to the TLO to discuss whether certain IP is owned by MIT pursuant to our Policy.

Please visit here to review frequently asked questions concerning the updated Policy.