The University encourages its Researchers to identify research results with potential commercialisation value and which may enhance the reputation of the University through bringing them to public use and benefit.

The person or unit designated by the University is responsible for the protection and commercialisation of the University’s Intellectual Property. The Inventor(s), however, shall be consulted in each phase of the procedure.

Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators, whose work is covered by an IP agreement, shall be required to present in writing the draft publications containing scientific results to the person or Unit designated by the University before publishing them, and shall state in writing that, to the best of their knowledge such works do not contain any results for which protection may be obtained or which can be exploited in any way.

Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators are obliged to disclose all Intellectual Property falling within the scope of Section 6 to the person or Unit designated by the University. In this context, the Inventor(s) must immediately register the intellectual property at the appropriate Intellectual Property offices in and outside Ghana in conjunction with the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC). DRIC will be the lead consultant in taking appropriate steps and measures to ensure the registration and the acquisition of the patent for the Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators.

Copyrighted Works shall be excluded from the disclosing obligation set out in Paragraph 8.3., except for those which were developed in the performance of a sponsored research or other third party agreement.

Since protection and successful commercialisation of every invention, innovation or creativity will depend on its prompt registration as Intellectual Property Right at the appropriate Intellectual Property Rights office(s), Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators are required to disclose all potentially exploitable Intellectual Property Rights as soon as they become aware of them. The disclosure must be made in writing by completing the Intellectual Property Disclosure Form available from the person or unit designated by the University.

Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators shall fully disclose all research activities and results relevant to the potential Intellectual Property Rights and provide information about themselves, in particular, the percentage of their contribution to the invention or creation which has potential Intellectual Property Rights and the circumstances under which it was created. The detailed description of the invention shall be presented in such a manner that the inventive activity involved and its novelty as well as its susceptibility of industrial application become explicit and clear-cut for a person skilled in the art.

In case of incomplete disclosure, the form may be sent back to the Inventor(s) requesting for additional information. The date of disclosure shall be the day on which the person or unit designated by the University receives the full disclosure signed by all Inventors.

If an Inventor is in any doubt whether an innovation or creation falls within the scope of Section 6 or it is potentially commercially exploitable, as innovation or creation then the Inventor should submit a disclosure to the person or unit designated by the University for consideration prior to making public disclosure of the Intellectual Property.

Premature disclosure may compromise the registration, the protection and commercialisation of innovation or creation. To avoid any loss of potential Intellectual Property Rights and their benefits, Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators are required to make reasonable efforts to identify Intellectual Property early in the development process and consider the consequent impacts of any public disclosure.

After full disclosure of all relevant information, the person or unit designated by the University shall record all creations and innovations which are potential Intellectual Property Rights in its register. When such innovations and creations are finally registered as Intellectual Property Rights, the same designated unit by the University shall record them in a register of Intellectual Property Rights.

The person or unit designated by the University shall determine whether any agreements provide for the sharing of IP Rights or other obligations override those set out in this Policy. Provisions of related Research Agreements may require the assignment of certain IP rights in full or in part. In case of assignment, the procedure for protection and commercialisation shall be governed by a separate agreement concluded between the University and other concerned parties. In all other cases, the procedure set out in this Policy shall apply.

The person or unit designated by the University shall notify the relevant Head of Department, within thirty 30 days, about all disclosures. The notification involves a short abstract of the potential Intellectual Property Rights and the name of the Inventor(s).

After the date of disclosure, the person or unit designated by the University shall immediately commence the evaluation of the innovation and creation regarding its potential registration as Intellectual Property Rights in conjunction with an Intellectual Property expert or an Intellectual Property office. Based on the results of the pre-evaluation, a recommendation on whether to register the innovation and creation as Intellectual Property Rights shall be forwarded to the person or Unit taking the final decision on behalf of the University. Such a recommendation shall be forwarded within 14 days from the date of disclosure.

The final decision shall be taken within 21 days from the date of disclosure.

The Inventor(s) shall be informed of the decision within 30 days from the date of decision in writing. If the University decides not to register the innovations and creations as Intellectual Property Rights and to exploit and commercialise them, then the provisions of Paragraph 6.6 shall apply.

The person or unit shall carry out a complete evaluation of every registered Intellectual Property Rights designated by the University shall carry out a complete evaluation of the Intellectual Property with particular attention on possible methods of the protection of the Intellectual Property and its business opportunities.

The Inventor(s) shall closely cooperate with the person or unit designated by the University, the patent attorney or any other Intellectual Property experts involved or engaged by the University. Inventor(s) are required to give reasonable assistance in protecting and commercially exploiting the Intellectual Property by providing information, attending meetings and advising on further development.

The person or Unit designated by the University shall, within reasonable time not exceeding 30 days, commence the process for acquiring legal protection, if needed, and shall proceed with all due diligence to obtain protection. Public disclosure of research results made before obtaining the right of priority concerning a specific Intellectual Property application, highly jeopardise the proper protection of the related IP Rights. Therefore, Inventor(s) are requested to avoid any public disclosure of research results prior to filing such applications. The University shall endeavour to avoid undue delays in publications.

The person or Unit designated by the University and the Inventor(s) shall jointly determine an appropriate commercialisation strategy as part of the evaluation process within one month from the date of University’s decision. The strategy will outline the tasks of each concerned party in the commercialisation process and establish deadlines for the specific actions.

The person or Unit designated by the University shall be responsible to carry out the commercialisation plan and it shall submit specific proposals, such as draft agreements or business plans, to the person or Unit appointed by the University for decision.

Commercial decisions, such as the ones concerning the terms of an assignment/licensing agreement or establishment of a spin-off enterprise, shall be taken on a case-by-case basis by the person or Unit designated by the University, giving due consideration to all circumstances.

The University may decide not to apply for the registration of innovations and creations as Intellectual Property Rights or it may withdraw a pending application, if it is more appropriate for the purposes of commercialisation to treat the potential and relevant Intellectual Property Rights as confidential know how, secret etc.

If the University decides to discontinue an application, to withdraw it, or not to maintain a granted or registered right, the provisions of Paragraph 6.6 shall apply. Such decisions shall be taken by the person or Unit designated by the University.

Intellectual Property that do not fall within the scope of Section 6 may also be disclosed to the University by Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators under the terms of this Policy. In such cases, the University shall decide, within 30 days from the full disclosure of all relevant information, whether to exploit the Intellectual Property. If the University decides to undertake the protection and commercialisation of the Intellectual Property, the rules set out in this Policy shall apply.

Expenses incurred in connection with the protection and commercialisation of Intellectual Property shall be borne by the University.

During the evaluation and commercialisation period, the full description of the Intellectual Property shall be disclosed to third parties under a confidentiality agreement.

Employees of the University Engaging in Research in UCC

1. All rights in Intellectual Property devised, made or created by an employee of the University in the course of his or her duties and activities of employment shall generally belong automatically to the University.
2. If an employee of the University creates Intellectual Property outside the normal course of his or her duties of employment, with a significant use of University Resources, he or she will be deemed to have agreed to transfer the IP Rights in such Intellectual Property to the University as consideration for the use of University Resources. Generally, use of library facilities, facilities available to the general public and occasional use of personal office equipment and office space may not be considered as a significant use.
3. Intellectual Property, as defined in Paragraph 6.1.1., created in the course of, or pursuant to a sponsored research or other type of agreement with a third party, shall initially belong to the University and then ownership shall be determined according to the terms of such agreements (in accordance with Section 5).
4. Section 6.1 shall apply to student employees of the University.

Employees of the University Engaging in Research in Other Institutions

Rights related to Intellectual Property that is created during an academic visit by the employee of the University to another University shall be governed by an agreement between the University and the other University (in accordance with Section 4.6.).

Non-employees of UCC

Visiting Researchers are required to transfer to the University any Intellectual Property they create in the course of their activities arising from their association with the University. Such individuals will be treated as if they were University employees for the purposes of this Policy, except in special circumstances.

Students

Students who are not employed by the University shall own all Intellectual Property and associated IP Rights they create in the course of their studies. However, the following exceptions shall apply.

1. If a student is offered a studentship sponsored by a third party under a separate agreement, under which the third party has a claim on Intellectual Property arising from the studentship, the student must agree that the Intellectual Property shall initially belong to the University and ownership will then be determined in accordance with the terms of the agreement concluded with the third party.
2. Intellectual Property created by students in the course of, or pursuant to, a sponsored research or other agreement with a third party shall initially belong to the University and ownership will then be determined in accordance with the terms of the agreement concluded with the third party.

3. If a student creates Intellectual Property with the significant use of University Resources in connection with his or her research activity, he or she will be deemed to have agreed to transfer the IP Rights in such Intellectual Property to the University as consideration for the use of University Resources.

4. The University shall claim ownership of all Intellectual Property created in the course of postgraduate (doctorate) students’ research activity.

Students shall be given the option to assign IP Rights to the University and shall then be granted the same rights as any employee Inventor as set out in this Policy. In such cases, students should follow the procedures set out in this Policy.

All rights in Copyrighted Works are owned by their creators regardless of the use of University Resources. Copyrighted Works specifically commissioned by the University or developed in the performance of a sponsored research or other third party agreement shall constitute an exception where the provisions of such agreements shall be taken into account.

If the University cannot, or decides not to, exploit any Intellectual Property to which it lays claim, it shall forthwith notify the Inventor(s). The notification shall be made at least one month prior to any act or any intentional omission liable to prevent the obtainment of protection. In such cases, the Inventor(s) shall have the option to acquire related IP Rights; however, the University may claim a share from the income of any subsequent exploitation of the Intellectual Property to the extent equalling the verified expenditures of the University incurred in connection with the protection and commercialisation of such IP. The University may also claim for a perpetual non-exclusive royalty-free license for research purposes without the right to business exploitation and without the right to sub-license. The University may also claim for a percentage between 5-20%, on a case-by-case basis, of any net income generated by the Inventor(s) from the commercialisation of the Intellectual Property. The University shall not unreasonably withhold or delay an assignment of the IP Rights to the Inventor(s).

Requests for any transfer of rights from the University to the Inventors(s) or any other third party shall be made, in the first instance, to the person or unit designated by the University.

It is the responsibility of the Researcher to ensure that prior to commencing any research activity in collaboration with any third party, the terms and conditions of cooperation be set forth in a written agreement (hereinafter referred to as Research Agreement).

Researchers/Inventors/Innovators/Creators shall not have the right to enter into a Research Agreement with third parties on behalf of the University unless they are authorised to do so by an official representative of the University. Concerning third party agreements, the University shall introduce a framework for the internal procedure of managing agreements.

Persons acting for, and on behalf of, the University shall exercise all due diligence when negotiating agreements and signing contracts that may affect the University’s IP Rights. In this context, the University shall put in place an appropriate procedure or appoint a unit to ensure that the interests of the University are represented in a sufficient degree.

In certain cases, it may be beneficial to the University to enter into Research Agreements that are exceptions to the provisions of this Policy with external sponsors of research and other third parties.

Depending on the relative intellectual and financial contributions of the University and the third party to the conception of the Intellectual Property, it may be appropriate for either cooperating party to obtain certain IP Rights and/or share in the revenue generated from its commercialisation (details on inventors’ research share are shown in section 10 of this document). Unless otherwise stated, the principal investigator or team leader is responsible for developing modalities for sharing the revenue prior to the commencement of the initiative. A copy of the modalities for revenue sharing should be, a priori, lodged with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) at DRIC.

The Deputy Director (Research and Innovation) shall have immediate responsibility for the IPO.

The IPO shall perform the following functions:

1. Provide administrative support to an ad hoc committee comprising the Inventor, Provost of the College to which the invention belongs, an expert in the area of the invention and the Deputy Director (Research and Innovation) at DRIC.

2. Review applications for grant of patent for inventions and register utility models and industrial design.

3. Review applications for the registration of marks (including internet domain names as marks), geographical indications, and integrated circuits.

4. Register technology transfer arrangements, settles disputes involving technology transfer payments, and develop and implement strategies to promote and facilitate technology transfer.

5. Promote the use of patent information as a tool for technology development.

6. Publish regularly the patents, marks, utility models, and industrial designs issued and approved, and the technology transfer arrangements registered.

7. Coordinate with other government agencies and the private sector to strengthen the protection and enforcement of IP Rights in the University. 

8. Administratively adjudicates cases affecting intellectual property rights.

In the absence of such an agreement defined in Section 5.1., it is the policy of the University that IP Rights shall be distributed among the cooperating parties in the proportion that reflects the proportions of contribution to the creation of the Intellectual Property.

In order to enable the cooperating parties to establish such proportions defined in Section 5.6 and to prevent subsequent disputes, it is expedient that the parties maintain regular, well- documented records of the research activities pursued, signed by all of them.

The agreement set forth in Section 5.1 shall include, inter alia provisions with respect to the following:

1. IP and associated rights already existing at the University prior to entering into the agreement;
2. IP and associated IP Rights arising from research activities set out in the agreement, after entering into it;
3. Confidentiality requirements;
4. Terms of public disclosure; and
5. Other relevant provisions.

Any confidentiality provision of a Research Agreement aiming at the delay of public disclosure for the purpose of protection should not usually have effect for longer than 12 months from the time the concerned party is notified of the intent to publish.

Before execution by appropriate designated authority, the full copy of the proposed agreements and other legal statements concerning the University’s IP Rights shall be submitted to the person or unit designated by the University for advice.

In order to ensure continuous improvement of the professional attributes of faculty, the University of Cape Coast declares its support for postdoctoral activities and therefore has developed this policy to guide its administration.

The University recognizes two categories of postdoctoral activities. Category one, covers postdoctoral activities that are undertaken by external faculty members on the University of Cape Coast campus while category two refers to postdoctoral training pursued by faculty of this University in other universities/institutions. The University therefore recognizes two categories of people undertaking postdoctoral activities. These are postdoctoral appointees (Category One) and postdoctoral fellows (Category Two).

For the avoidance of doubt, the University defines postdoctoral training as research oriented activities pursued with the aim of enhancing professional skills that are directly related to the subject area of the postdoctoral appointee/fellow. The adoption of this definition by the University implies that postdoctoral activities debars the pursuance of the other two professional engagements of faculty namely, teaching and outreach. The restriction of postdoctoral activities to only research is informed by the University’s quest to attain recognition as a research-oriented institution. The University may in the future, expand the scope of postdoctoral training to cover other endeavours of scholarship.

Postdoctoral conditions shall not in anyway be interpreted as either sabbatical or study leave.