Introduction
Prominent to the vision of the First Technical University is the management of research inventions and breakthroughs intertwined with viable entrepreneurship. Hitherto, Nigerian Universities are popular for mass graduation of various categories of students whereas several research outputs are wasted on the shelves of these institutions. Nigerian Universities are not often not recognized as veritable hub of inventors and researchers. The popular syndrome “publish or perish” has made researchers lose potential benefits of their research. In fact, little or no expectation is placed on researches. Therefore, the establishment of IPTTO is expected to harvest the intellectual resources of the academia for productive integration into economy and national development.
Concepts of IPTTO
Tech-U IPTTO is an office which manages the mile stones research outputs in the University and process it for intellectual property (IP). According to the Nigerian, IP right can be secured for stated periods depending on the nature of the IP. Within the stated period the exclusive authority on the possessor exclude any other party. Tech-U IPTTO process the two major classifications of IP namely: Industrial Property and Copyright.
Industrial Property includes:
- Patents
- Industrial designs
- Trademarks
- Patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. A novel invention can be preserved through patent. Process or product which offers new technical or industrial solutions can be patented.
- Trademark right is secured to protect making, promoting or selling goods and services which have a name, symbol or design similar to a registered trademark. Trademark right is essential to the entrepreneurs.
- Copyright is also a form of IPR which is an economic right given to owners of artistic and literary works. The eligible works for copyright registration are as follow:
- Literary works (books and other written/printed works, and computer programmes)
- Musical works (musical scores/composition duly recorded)
- Artistic works (visual arts, pictures, drawing, 3D works)
- Cinematographic films
- Sound recordings (audio recordings)
Objectives of the Office
The purpose of contemplating a Tech-U IPPTO office include:
- Sensitization, processing and administration of IPR on novel research inventions in Tech-U;
- Building researchers capacity on the documentation IPR, knowledge transfer, and research uptake;
- Establishing Town and Gown meeting to impact the immediate and remote communities sustainably;
- Encouraging mutually beneficial industry- academic engagement.
- Administration of all University IPR, licensing agreements and IPR revenue
- Sourcing and managing seed fund for thriving invention incubation hub commercialization deliverables, and
- Offering IPR services to the public on commercial or partnership basis.