Push Forward commercial filming. DAAP Scene, filmed at 1819.

Industry Research Tiers

In today’s rapid pace of change, University of Cincinnati’s Office of Innovation makes it easy for industry to start working quickly and painlessly with top talent. We know how fast business moves, and we move fast with you.

A license is a permission given by one party (the licensor) to another party (the licensee). In the case of intellectual property (IP), that permission often takes the form of allowing the licensee to use the IP owned by the licensor in an agreed upon manner, but does not involve the licensor selling the IP or otherwise transferring ownership permanently to the licensee.
 

3 TIER LICENSES

We have developed three ways for industry to access top research at UC, called the 3-Tier Approach:
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Tier 1: Non-Exclusive Royalty-Free License (NERF)

For companies that don’t think there will be any IP generated during a project and want to start collaborating quickly.

  • Company receives a royalty-free non-exclusive license to the IP and an option to negotiate an exclusive license after IP is developed.
  • No fees or royalties.

  • Background IP is not included

     

Tier 2: Exclusive License with Pre-Set Royalty

For companies that want to have an exclusive royalty-bearing IP position, this allows for the project to launch quickly but ensures an IP position once the project ends.

  • Company pays an additional 10% of the full cost of the sponsored research project ($15,000 minimum).
  • Company pays 1% royalties of net sales starting in the year annual sales using IP reaches $20MM.
  • Both the company and the UC Principal Investigator must agree to use Tier 2 for the project.
  • Background IP is not included.

 

Tier 3: Ownership Assigned to Sponsor

For companies that want any potential IP created during the project assigned to them before the project even begins.

  • Ownership of UC project IP and UC’s interest in joint project IP are assigned to company.
  • Company pays an additional fee of 75% of the full cost of the sponsored research project for the assignment of IP.
  • Both the company and the UC Principal Investigator must agree to use Tier 3 for the project.
  • There can be no UC background IP associated with the project.