Intellectual Property (IP) Guide

IP definition

Intellectual Property refers to property rights in ideas that are protected through federal and state laws governing patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. Know-how is sometimes also included in intellectual property licenses, and covers ideas and information that is not protected by patent, copyright or trade secret.

The value of IP is not only in the original idea, but in how that idea is protected through copyright, patent or trademark rights. To appropriately and diligently protect IP created at the UW, we use a management strategy that provides our licensees with the freedom they need to meet their strategic business needs, while giving the UW enough control to ensure the IP is as robust and broad as possible throughout the entire life cycle of the innovation.

Types of IP protections

At CoMotion, our IP staff includes patent portfolio managers and patent paralegals. Our patent portfolio managers have expertise in IP protection spanning sciences and engineering fields and are aligned with innovation stakeholders in creating, maximizing, and sustaining maximum commercial value from IP assets. Our experience in managing IP with outside law firms helps us establish a strategy to maximize—and protect—the commercial value of IP. We can assist with the following forms of IP protection, and tailor them to your unique circumstances:


A patent holder has the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing an innovation for a period of time. Patents do not convey a right to sell, manufacture or use the innovation.


Copyrights protect not only books and journal publications, but also software, artwork, photography, music, and website content. The UW Copyright Connection provides resources on copyright law, policies, and guidelines.



Trade secrets, non-disclosure agreements, etc.


Material transfer agreements

These allow transfer of research materials with other academic or corporate researchers.

Software copyrights & patents

As soon as you create a work in a tangible medium, such as a computer file, you have copyright in that work. Copyright protection gives the owner or licensee the right to control how other entities display, perform, distribute, copy, or create derivatives of the work.

How proceeds are distributed to inventors


Do students own their IP?
