IP CONFIDENTIALITY GUIDE

Protecting IP

This page provides a guide to mutual nondisclosure agreements and IP agreements for confidential projects under the SBME Capstone Program. See all forms and details below.

Background

Some SBME Capstone projects may require agreements to be put in place to protect confidential background information and to define how new project intellectual property, if any is developed, will be handled. We ask Capstone partners to disclose if their project falls under this category in their project proposal so that students are aware of this requirement before selection. For all SBME Capstone projects that have such requirements, the projects will be bound by the terms of the agreements outlined below. Please note IP and NDA agreements with Capstone students must use the standard templates (with no amendments). You will find our standard IP transfer agreement and Non Disclosure agreement below. Note that only these texts can be used for capstone projects. Due to volume, UBC will not negotiate specific texts for each project or client.

Non-UBC Sponsors Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

The purpose of this agreement is to protect the background intellectual property that each party brings to the collaboration. Although this agreement will be between the sponsor company and UBC, SBME’s students and instructors will sign the agreements to confirm that they have read and understood the agreement and the obligations it entails.

Please read the agreement carefully.

IP Assignment Agreement

The purpose of the IP assignment agreement is to clarify who owns any intellectual property that may be developed during the capstone project.

This agreement will be between students and the sponsoring company. Please read it carefully before signing.

Further information on UBC’s IP policies can be found at UBC Policy LR11 – Inventions and Discoveries.

Agreements for UBC-affiliated sponsors

Many of our projects are sponsored by UBC faculty or by companies (startups) that are closely related to or incubated by UBC. For these projects, any new inventions will be handled by the UBC’s University-Industry Liaison Office – the UILO. The UILO is the UBC body that handles intellectual property and UBC-industry relationships for the university. If a UBC professor or graduate student wishes to file a patent, start a company, or engage in a paid research partnership with an external company, they would deal with the UILO.

Intellectual property for UBC-affiliated projects is handled by the UILO, rather than the above agreements, because these sponsors are UBC employees and the projects will be completed using university resources.

Further information on UBC’s policies for handling intellectual property can be found in UBC Policy LR11 – Inventions and Discoveries.

Acknowledgements

Much of the text on this page was derived from the UBC ENPH 459 & 479 Guide to mutual nondisclosure agreement and IP agreement for confidential projects.