Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) will adapt its policy for intellectual property of students, reports the university news site Cursor. Last week, Dutch parliament accepted a motion saying acceptance into an educational program cannot depend on whether a student agrees to give up its intellectual property. Currently, all TUE students must give up their claim to ideas and inventions when they register. That obligation will disappear.
The debate from which the motion results started in January. Several students got engaged in a conflict over intellectual property with their university. TUE was the only university in the Netherlands requiring students to give up their IP at registration. Dutch parliament now demands guidelines to be adapted per September 2020. Also, all universities are asked to discuss how students could get independent legal advice.
Spokesperson Ivo Jongsma states the new TUE guidelines will be finished by September. He expects these rules to apply to enrollments for the academic year 2021-2022. The university will see whether it’s possible to apply the measure retroactively for 2020-2021.