Intellectual Property in IDE education

Intellectual Property in IDE education

While studying Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft the term Intellectual Property (IP) will cross your path regularly. This document explains  how the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering handles IP that is created in IDE education. Please bear in mind that not in every course IP will be created.

Intellectual Property (IP) is a term for all ideas and creative concepts that have been expressed in tangible form, such as texts, designs, inventions, trademarks, games, software, photos, videos, et cetera. IP can be protected by IP Rights (IPR) that can be used separately or in combination with each other. Well known IPR are copyrights, design rights and patent rights. At the BOIP website (Benelux Office for Intellectual Property) you can find examples and details on IP(R). 

IP and ownership Various laws and regulations to regulate IP and ownership have  come into existence over time. For employees, generally the employer will be the owner of the IP created. For students, IP can, depending on the situation and the subject, be owned by the student, the educational institute or, if applicable, an assigner like a company or institute that commissioned the work. Collaborating with peer students and/or companies will result in shared IP. The owner of IP can register or apply for IP Rights (IPR) and has the right to forbid others to use or exploit the IP. 

Both in research and in education the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering strives to collaborate with industrial and societal partners so academic knowledge can be used in practice through those partners.

With respect to IP in education, IDE courses can be divided in the following categories: