Intellectual Property Office

Ownership of IP is governed by collective agreements and relevant legislation. Ownership of IP, including copyright and patents, can also be transferred to another party by contract. This includes transferring ownership of your patents or copyrighted works to external funders or publishers.

Research involving human participants, such as Indigenous peoples or communities, may require community ownership or co-ownership of research output.

Students: As a student, you are the default owner of your intellectual property, including your thesis.

When you are hired as a researcher or other employee, you may not own the employed research work that overlaps with your studies. In these cases, such as research that will be used for employment and a graduate thesis, it is best to clarify IP ownership at the outset of your employment.

DFA members: Under article 23 of the DFA Collective Agreement, you own the majority of your intellectual property developed at Dalhousie. This includes teaching and research material, and in some cases the university gains temporary rights to work such as software, developed for administrative purposes at Dalhousie.

There are exceptions for tasks assigned outside of normal duties. For instance, if you are being contracted to develop a course or document outside of your typical workload, that work may be owned by Dalhousie.

CUPE members: You hold the rights to your lectures and lecture material, under article 23.2 of the CUPE – LOCAL 3912 collective agreement. This does not include items such as syllabi, course outlines, examinations, tests and assignments. However, CUPE members may be hired on individual contracts for the purpose of developing teaching material for the university.

NSGEU / DPMG members: Dalhousie owns the rights to any copyright or inventions (patents) you develop in the normal course of your employment.

PSAC members / Post-Doctoral fellows: PSAC members currently do not have an IP clause in their collective agreement, and should discuss IP ownership with the relevant unit lead.

Assigned tasks are a type of work referred to in Dalhousie collective agreements. Assigned tasks are duties outside of your normal job description, that are arranged with your unit head or supervisor. In some cases, the IP for this work is then owned by the university. For instance, the development of a course, that will be held by the department rather than the individual instructor.

Student researchers may be considered students, employees, or co-investigators, and all of these identities have different default states of IP ownership. Many research environments are also dictated by funder agreements, wherein the funder retains the right to any copyright or patents.

It is advisable to discuss and record IP ownership at the outset of hiring a student researcher. In all cases, students should be able to use their research towards their studies or graduate thesis, where applicable.

Please contact the IP Office if you would like to discuss an IP agreement or arrangement involving a student researcher.

Relevant unit heads can grant permission to use works owned by Dalhousie, such as a copyrighted document.

Use of the Dalhousie brand and logo must be cleared with Communications and Marketing.

In general, conflicts are best dealt with at an informal level. It is advisable for persons in conflict to seek mediation or other forms of informal dispute resolution. Persons in conflict can find assistance in dispute resolution from their unit head. Relevant collective agreements, such as the DFA Agreement, contain more details on conflict resolution for IP disputes.

The IP Office is available for targeted training for all units at Dalhousie. Feel free to reach out and arrange a time and format that works best for you.