Before hauling out your flamethrowers, read on...

Inventors, Hop Aboard the Carolina Express (License)

http://chronicle.com/article/Inventors-Hop-Aboard-the/49450/ (need to be on campus or have a Chronicle subscription to see the whole article)

Quote :

"Under a new policy it is announcing on Thursday, dubbed the Carolina Express License Agreement, the institution has decided to offer a take-it-or-leave-it package deal for start-ups that promises the same simple—and generous—royalty terms to anyone who opts to use it. Breaking with a practice common at other institutions, Chapel Hill has also decided that for professors and others who choose the new express license, it will no longer take an ownership stake in a company. Instead, the owners of a start-up must agree to simply pay the university an amount equal to 0.75 percent of the company's fair-market value once it has gone public or merged with another company. The royalty requirements—2 percent of sales price for products that require approval by the Food and Drug Administration and 1 percent for all others—are also lower than those most universities demand."

Quote :

"Ms. Innes said the new approach is a response to criticism from many in the business world—at times overstated, say universities—that "it takes forever to get a license done" with an academic institution. Simple, straightforward terms should help speed that process, she said, because parties will no longer have to spend time negotiating over royalty percentages. She said she hopes the express license will also help eliminate any distrust among faculty members considering start-ups by assuring them that they "are getting the same deal as everybody else." (The express deal also requires the spin-off company to make its licensed product available at affordable prices in the developing world; activist groups have been urging universities to include such "humanitarian licensing" provisions in their deals.)"

When I worked at NCSU, I briefly considered asking to retain some ownership of some customized software that I'd written. If something like this license had been in place, I'd have likely pursued it, and tried to build a company.

12/22/2009 9:37:33 AM

that's one good thing that school has done.

12/22/2009 9:42:23 AM

pretty good idea.

I did some php/sql online stuff for my senior project for the SPOT forms we have to fill out, doing it all online (student perception of teaching).

After the project they wanted me to continue to work on stuff but I didn't know where it was going to end up and i didn't see any compensation in the talks so i dropped it.

12/22/2009 9:59:34 AM

I had some similar stuff for my senior project.

I could have pursuided, but it didnt look like it woudl pay, and the patented thing was kinda nebulous.

12/22/2009 10:42:21 AM