Intellectual property policy - Purdue University

[DhruvJ22]

Purdue University's Intellectual Property Policy for open-source software states: "The University permits software code to be contributed to open-source projects upon (1) the authorization of the funding sponsor and principal investigator (if any) for the coding project and (2) the consent of the University administrator(s), if any, who request or direct the coding project."

This project is not funded, thus, there is no need to sign a disclosure with the University or the funding sponsor. However, it will be useful to obtain written authorization from the PI, if any.

This case is similar to a case where a student would write some code for a course and choose to make it open source, and would not require any authorization from Purdue University.

Office of Technology Commercialization's staff, Purdue University can be contacted if we require any further clarification.

I am grateful to Dr. Joseph Kasper, Assistant Director of Business Development, Office of Technology Commercialization, Purdue University for sharing his experience and resources for this issue.

[rjpower4]

Great, thanks for looking into this! I am struggling, however, to pull out what our action items are for this?

[DhruvJ22]

We will probably need written authorization from our PI, which I assume is Prof. Howell. I can email OTC to know if they have a template form that we can use.

[rjpower4]

Thoughts, @nicklafarge?

[nicklafarge]

Thanks @DhruvJ22! This is super useful. It sounds like a good idea to get Prof. Howell's "authorization" but I guess we need clarity on what that means. @DhruvJ22 why don't you go ahead and contact OTC to see what they say?

[DhruvJ22]

Sure, I will reach out to OTC to know if they have a template, or what are the key points that the authorization should cover.

[DhruvJ22]

As per OTC, the PI just needs to give us written approval and the template is: “I approve Dhruv Jain [and (insert co-authors here)] to release (name and identifiers of software) under an open-source license”.

[DhruvJ22]

Some more information from Dr. Joseph Kasper at OTC:
"OTC provides an open-source disclosure form here (https://www.prf.org/otc/disclosure/form-types.html), but I don’t think it’s strictly required. It’s an out-of-date form that references the old IP policy, so the page one signatures can be replaced by the PI only. The rest of the document is still relevant and will help you double check that the software meets the requirements for open-source release. That document also includes Purdue’s preferred open-source licensing language."

Since the form is outdated and not required, so I don't see a need to fill it. I have included this information here for the sake of completeness.

[nicklafarge]

Great thanks Dhruv! One other question - once we have that form, what do we do with it? Do we have to submit that to anyone?

[DhruvJ22]

If we choose to complete the form then we have to submit it to OTC. Some more details:

1. The main webpage is this, where you can find more info on disclosure forms and who to submit it to.
2. Remember that as per the updated Policy, we just need the PI's signature on page 1.

[nicklafarge]

Got it. Thanks again for figuring all this out @DhruvJ22 !