{"id":538,"date":"2026-04-02T21:24:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/?page_id=538"},"modified":"2026-08-21T17:58:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:58:43","slug":"information-student-inventors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/innovations\/tech-transfer\/innovator-resources\/information-student-inventors\/","title":{"rendered":"Information for student inventors"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"nau-block nau-block-left-nav-top-bound\">\n    \t<button id=\"left-nav-toggle-btn\" onclick=\"toggleNav();\">\n\t\tON THIS PAGE \n\t\t<i id=\"chevron-icon\" class=\"fas fa-solid fa-chevron-down\"><\/i>\n\t<\/button>\n\t<div id=\"left-nav-menu-track\">\n\t\t<div id=\"left-nav-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"rfi-above-anchor-tags\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ri-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div id=\"left-nav-menu\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"menu-section menu-section-links\"><h6 class=\"hidden-mobile left-nav-list-header\">ON THIS PAGE<\/h6><ul class=\"left-nav-menu-list left-nav-automatic on-this-page\"><\/ul><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"menu-section backcolor\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHOW CAN WE HELP?\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"responsive-icons\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"tel:928-523-4620\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/themes\/nau-marketing-2021\/img\/icon-phone.svg\" alt=\"Telephone:\"> 928-523-4620<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"mailto:nauinnovations@nau.edu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/themes\/nau-marketing-2021\/img\/icon-email.svg\" alt=\"Email:\"><span class=\"left-nav-email\"> nauinnovations&#8203;@nau.edu <\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<section class=\"nau-block left-nav-section\"><header class=\"entry-header\"><div class=\"breadcrumb\"><ol class=\"breadcrumbs\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/stage.in.nau.edu\">IN<\/a><span class=\"breadcrumb-chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&gt;<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\">NAU Research<\/a><span class=\"breadcrumb-chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&gt;<\/span><\/li><li class=\"current\">Pages<\/li><\/ol><\/div><h1 class=\"entry-title text-left \">Information for student inventors<\/h1><hr class=\"h1-hr  text-left \" role=\"none\"><\/header><!-- .entry-header --><\/section><!-- <section class=\"nau-block left-nav-section grid-md-12\">\n    <header class=\"entry-header\">\n        <h1 class=\"entry-title text-left \" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"h1-first\">Dummy H1<\/h1>\n        <hr class=\"h1-hr  text-left \" role=\"none\">\n    <\/header>\n<\/section> -->\n\n<section class=\"nau-block left-nav-section grid-md-12\">\n    <div class=\"page-content\">\n        <div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Student guide&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NAU Innovations is the designated&nbsp;unit for ensuring that Northern Arizona University&nbsp;complies with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/public.powerdms.com\/ABOR\/documents\/1499354\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ABOR Intellectual Property Policy 6-908<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;Innovations follow this policy to&nbsp;determine&nbsp;ownership of&nbsp;intellectual&nbsp;property&nbsp;developed at&nbsp;NAU and help protect and commercialize intellectual property&nbsp;that is owned&nbsp;by ABOR and NAU.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is IP? Who owns it? Why is it important?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of human intellect that can be commercialized\u2014that is, licensed for profit. There are federal, state, and international laws regulating the use of IP. Patents, copyrights, and trademarks are some of the ways that creators can legally protect their IP from unauthorized use and earn recognition (and sometimes royalties) for their IP.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<section         class=\"nau-article-block-simple-color-text-photo bg-gold \">\n    \n\n    \n        <hr role=\"none\" class=\"hr-clearspace-20 d-none-md\">\n\n        <h3>Examples of IP\u00a0<\/h3>                <ul>\n<li>As a music major, you may compose a piece of music for the cello. The composition is considered IP.<\/li>\n<li>As a computer science major, you may develop software that enables researchers to run genetic sequences. The software program is considered IP.<\/li>\n<li>As a health sciences major, you may develop a new assay to test for jungle fever. The assay is considered IP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n    \n\n<\/section>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Do I own IP I developed at NAU?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) policy governs the ownership of IP developed at NAU (see section A3, \u201cStudent-Created Works\u201d of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/public.powerdms.com\/ABOR\/documents\/1499354\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ABOR Policy 6-908<\/a>). Here are some examples of ownership scenarios based on this policy:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>If you are an undergraduate student and you\u2026<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Created IP&nbsp;as a result of&nbsp;classwork and\/or for a student dissertation or capstone project intended to fulfill degree requirements at the university, you&nbsp;own that IP. Contact&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:William.Aylor@nau.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Will Aylor<\/a>&nbsp;for more information.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Are&nbsp;employed by NAU as a student worker,&nbsp;ABOR would&nbsp;own the IP you created as part of your employment at NAU.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Developed IP as part of a research project carried out under the direction of NAU faculty or&nbsp;staff,&nbsp;ABOR&nbsp;would&nbsp;own the IP.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Developed IP as part of a sponsored research project that was funded by NAU directly or through funds administered by&nbsp;NAU,&nbsp;ABOR would&nbsp;own the IP.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>If you are a graduate student and you\u2026<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are under an assistantship of any kind, you are considered an employee of NAU and <strong>ABOR would<\/strong>&nbsp;own the IP you created as part of your employment at NAU.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<section         class=\"nau-article-block-simple-color-text-photo bg-sunset \">\n    \n\n    \n        <hr role=\"none\" class=\"hr-clearspace-20 d-none-md\">\n\n        <h3>Learn more<\/h3>                <p>If ABOR owns the IP\u00a0created,\u00a0you may be considered an Inventor for the purposes of protection and commercialization of the IP.\u00a0\u00a0You can learn more about IP rights and responsibilities by visiting <a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/innovations\/tech-transfer\/intellectual-property\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"870\">Intellectual Property<\/a>. If you have questions about IP, ownership, rights and responsibilities, or any other IP questions, reach out to the NAU Innovations team at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:nauinnovations@nau.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nauinnovations@nau.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n    \n\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<div class=\"nau-block nau-block-left-nav-bottom-bound\">\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":5610,"parent":868,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ring_central_script_selection":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-538","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5611,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/538\/revisions\/5611"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}