School of Medicine & Public Health – Distribution of Invention Royalties

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Policy Number:
SMPH-3010
Old Policy Number:
30.10
Responsible Office:
SMPH Office of Fiscal Affairs

School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) Policy

Rationale/​Purpose:

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) allocates invention royalties to School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) departments and inventors. The WARF agreements at different times specified that the royalties would either go to the faculty inventor’s specific lab or to the department(s). This policy outlines how the department's share of royalties is allocated between the department and the inventor. This policy does not apply to the royalties that WARF pays directly to the inventor.

Definitions:
Faculty
Professors, associate professors, and assistant professors on the tenure track, clinical health sciences track, clinician-teacher track, research professor track, or teaching professor track. This includes instructors and clinical instructors in permanent, temporary (non-training), or fellowship positions.
Faculty inventor
An inventor who holds a faculty title at SMPH.
Inventor
Anyone at UW–Madison who invents a device, process, etc. 
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The designated patent and licensing organization for UW–Madison, which partners with the university to steward the cycle of research, discovery, commercialization, and investment.  
Policy:

  1. Policy Statement

    1. In its management of royalty income from licenses for UW–Madison faculty inventions, WARF distributes a share of the income to the home department(s) of the faculty inventor. For SMPH departments, a minimum of 50% of such distributions, or of distributions from endowments derived from inventions, will be allocated to the inventor as discretionary funds in support of the faculty inventor’s research activities and development of new intellectual property.
    2. 50% of the department share of royalties for other staff and students who were also named inventors on the patent will go to the faculty inventor. 

  2. Exceptions

    1. If the distribution to the department for an inventor for the year is less than $500, the department will retain the full department share.
    2. If there is a lab-share distribution to the inventor during the same fiscal year and a share to the department, the department will retain the full department share.
    3. If the faculty inventor is no longer with the department, the department will retain the full share of royalties.
    4. Allocation of a greater fraction of the WARF distribution to the faculty inventor may be made at the discretion of the department chair.
Procedure:
  1. The SMPH Fiscal Affairs Office will work with WARF and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education (VCRGE) to allocate the department's share for the previous fiscal year to inventors.
  2. Per campus procedure, one lab share project will be set up per faculty member for their royalty revenue deposits.
Related UW–Madison Documents, Web Pages, or Other Resources:
External References:

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Policy Administration

Approval Authority:
Dean, School of Medicine and Public Health
Policy Manager:
Chief Financial Officer
Contact:
SMPH Finance Director -- Darlene Wood, dwood2@wisc.edu, (608) 263-4931
Effective Date:
05-02-2012
Date Issued:
05-02-2012
Revised Dates:

07-31-2020

Retrieved:
12-12-2024 21:55:49