Inventors Info | 
The protection of copyrightable work is easier. Any Author(s) of a completed, original work is automatically protected by copyright (within the U.S.) at the time the work is created. However, it is recommended as a safeguard that the Author include the following script in a prominent place on the work: "© [year of creation], [copyright holder's name]. All Rights Reserved." If the Copyright and Patent Committee approves the work, the TTO may decide to officially register® the copyright with the United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress (USCO). Such registration publicly displays copyright ownership and provides some international protection as well. For some multi-authored works (e.g. works developed by an Author and supporting students, etc.), the principal Author may be selected to represent all the authors. Each co-author must sign a release that assigns his/her copyright to the principal Author. Any part of the work taken from an existing copyrighted work requires appropriate permission from the author of that work. In some authored works, a patent may be appropriate if the work represents a new, patentable idea. Patents protect ideas; copyrights protect expression. Finally, the TTO determines the commercial potential of the work in much the same way it determines the commercial potential of an invention
- Informal Discussion
- Disclosure of Copyrightable Work and Declaration of Institutional Support Forms
- Detailed Interview with the Author
- Evaluation of Authored Work
- University Copyright and Patent Committee
- Registered Copyright
- Licensing
- Informal Discussion. It is useful for an Author to make an informal visit to the TTO to inform the Director that a copyrightable work is close to completion. The Director will review the content of the authored work and the scope of the commercial market with the Author.
- Disclosure of Copyrightable Work and Declaration of Institutional Support Forms These are documents that formally disclose an authored work to the University and initiate the events described below. The Author should download these documents from the TTO homepage and complete, sign and submit them to the TTO. If the work is complete and a manuscript, videotape or CD-ROM is available, they should be provided to the TTO as well. In lieu of completed work, written materials that describe the work's content may be submitted with the disclosure.
- Detailed Interview with the Author. There is no one who understands the work, the scope of its uses, and its potential commercial applications as well as the Author. During a detailed interview between the Director and the Author, copyright issues and commercial potential are discussed. The Director typically queries the uses (applications) of the work; its advantages and limitations; the market; potential licensees and corporate collaborators; the competition; what needs to be done to the work before it is ready to be commercialized; and future development plans. For each copyrightable work, the nature of the work and the use of University resources may determine the role of the Foundation in licensing and publishing, or the distribution of royalty from the commercialization of the work. Finally, the Author is apprised of the fact that the Copyright and Patent Committee will ultimately determine whether or not the invention should be assigned to the Foundation, or returned to the Inventor.
- Evaluation of the Authored Work. The TTO assesses the marketability and commercial potential of the work. These assessments are done by several procedures, including database searches of the Internet, discussions with potential licensees and discussions with other experts in the field.
- University Copyright and Patent Committee. The Director of the TTO presents the copyrightable, commercially viable work to the Copyright and Patent Committee and, based on the results of the evaluation, the Copyright and Patent Committee recommends that the work be: a) assigned to the University (and to the SDSU Research Foundation) for licensing/publication; b) tabled pending acquisition of additional information or; c) returned to the Author for their personal exploitation and/or commercialization effort (in which case, the University relinquishes its right to the work). The Copyright and Patent Committee formally recommends the transfer of the work from the Author to the University and, after approval by the Vice President for Research, the Author assigns ownership of the work to the Foundation for licensing/publishing.
- Registered Copyright. As advised in the beginning of this section, the Author should include language in the original work indicating his/her copyrights to it as soon as the work is completed. Following University Copyright and Patent Committee approval, the TTO will officially register the copyright with the USCO if it deems such a step necessary. Of course, the Author may register a copyright with the USCO for any original, completed work prior to approval by the University Copyright and Patent Committee. Registration is relatively inexpensive and easy; the USCO website describes the process well (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/).
- Licensing. The TTO performs database searches and explores its network of contacts for licensing/publishing opportunities. The Author may become involved in identifying opportunities as well, if the Author has become aware of potential licensees/publishers through contact with fellow authors active in the Author's field of work; literary or other publications; publications emanating from organizational/ corporate research; or a direct contact from a company expressing an interest in the work. Once sufficient information has been gathered, the TTO evaluates it and contacts potential licensees/publishers to explore their interest in licensing. If there is a mutual interest to pursue a licensing arrangement, general terms and conditions of an agreement are discussed, including alternatively purchasing a future option to license if the work is not imminently ready for commercialization (e.g., it is decided that the work will be a part of a larger, more comprehensive collection of works). The Author then gives a presentation to the interested company; a detailed, confidential discussion with key corporate individuals takes place; and, if the company decides to seek a license, a license agreement is drafted.
Usually, the SDSU Research Foundation maintains ownership of the Authored work and licenses the rights to commercialize the "product" to the company. The license (or option for a license) is a comprehensive document that describes all the details of the working relationship between the company and the SDSU Research Foundation (the representative of both SDSU and the Author), the scope of the company's rights and obligations to commercialize the work and the financial arrangements of the agreement. In the case of some works, the publisher will be assigned the copyright (the publisher assumes ownership of the copyright) for a fee and royalty.