Chaffey College to Lead California Community Colleges in Addressing Student IP Policy Overhaul
By: Sandra Slattery
Attorneys for Chaffey College are researching state and local administrative policies as well as education codes to determine the laws and policies governing intellectual property (IP) as it relates to students. Currently, community colleges in California do not have extensive IP policies specifically designed to address novel material that students may create at community colleges.
This is in part due to the shorter than average time spent at community colleges as well as the limited scope of research conducted at community colleges, compared to the broader research focus at universities. The IP policy at Chaffey College also extends to any interns being paid through government grants, such as participants in a collaboration between The Lemelson-MIT Program, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, and Chaffey College Inventions and Inclusive Innovation (I3) Internship.
After learning that students participating in the I3 internship would forfeit any claim to all intellectual property generated during the program, The Breeze began investigating the IP policy. The question about IP ownership as it relates to student-generated material came as a surprise to Chaffey College.
The I3 program is a paid internship introduced this year at four community colleges in California, as part of a statewide innovation initiative. Currently, the IP policy at Chaffey College is intended to address material generated by faculty at Chaffey College using Chaffey College resources.
In the current version of the IP policy, the college claims ownership to all intellectual property created by employees of the college using Chaffey College space, funding and resources. The I3 interns would be classified as Chaffey College employees due to receiving pay for the duration of the program.
As of now, there is no official policy that appropriately addresses students being paid through a government sponsored internship. Thus, anything created within the I3 program falls under the domain of a paid Chaffey College employee.
The I3 interns learned of the IP policy during the first weeks of the program with mixed reactions. One participant, when asked about the IP, replied that they were not surprised about the policy since the participants were being paid and were generally looking forward to the invention process. Another intern was not pleased with the news and expressed reservation. The student implied that the policy could negatively affect their performance and felt discouraged from sharing their best ideas in the program.
With IP policy, there is an important distinction between ownership and protection of intellectual property. Ownership of intellectual property is legally distinct from the pursuit of IP protection in the form of a patent. Broadly speaking, the owner of the IP would be responsible for pursuing protection of the IP in the form of a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Due to the novelty of the I3 initiative, Chaffey College is interested in supporting their students and began legal consultation upon learning of the investigation by The Breeze. The college intends to clarify where the boundaries are and where the students' domain begins, and they expressed interest in supporting students as much as possible in the spirit of the initiative.
In a recent interview, Chaffey College superintendent Laura Hope said: “It is not within the college’s interest to deny or suppress a student’s capacity to create something that could be amazing” and that the College had "previously never dealt with student IP policy issues before."
There is no current official revision to the IP policy. However, Chaffey College supports relinquishing the IP ownership to the interns. Furthermore, the superintendent stated that if the students are interested, the college is willing to negotiate sponsorship or co-ownership of a patent.
Chaffey College is excited about the I3 program and the opportunity the internship provides for entrepreneurship, which could lead to a framework for future business pursuits and career enrichment, and is happy to lead change.
Laura Hope, speaking for Chaffey College stated “If we’re going to have a state policy discussion regarding IP, we’re happy to be the ones to surface it.”