Determining Eligibility to Receive Lab Share Distributions
Background
Depending on the type of intellectual property protection chosen for the invention, potential Laboratory Share (LS) recipients are those inventors determined by WARF staff, patent attorneys or the US Patent Office to be inventors on the claimed invention. Invention Disclosure Reports (IDR) are not used to determine LS recipients since names may be added or deleted from the initial inventor list on the IDR during the intellectual property protection process.
Lab Share distributions are tracked by numbers (P#) assigned by WARF. The LS distribution to campus inventors will follow the guidelines listed below:
UW-Madison tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, and Academic Staff members holding Permanent PI Status who are named as inventors in the case corresponding to the P# will automatically receive a LS distribution. Distributions will be shared equally among all qualified individuals. (For example: If only one person they receive 100% of the LS distribution; if four qualify, they each receive 25%). If someone is no longer eligible (leaves the UW), those who remain will share the LS distribution equally. If all are no longer eligible this is no longer a LS distribution. The distribution of income will then follow the guidelines for a Department Share distribution.
If no qualified (see #1 above) individual is named on a P# that generates income, an inventor who is a responsible Academic Staff member may petition the relevant Graduate School Associate Dean to determine if a LS distribution will be approved for them. To receive a lab share distribution, an academic staff member must hold a campus appointment that would allow him/her to be appointed as a limited Principal Investigator.
Any requests for exceptions to the above policies may be made to the relevant Graduate School Associate Dean.
Other Issues
When a LS recipient is no longer a UW-Madison staff member, the balance in the LS Account will be returned to the Graduate School. A reasonable transition time may be negotiated with the Graduate School to allow completion of ongoing research projects.
When a LS recipient retires but continues to maintain an active research program at the UW, the LS recipient may continue to have access to LS funds if his/her Department Chair verifies in writing to the Graduate School that the department will provide the necessary research space and agree to continue to provide administrative support for the LS account.