The policy for ownership of an invention developed by a student is the same as for faculty and research staff, which is outlined in the Inventions and Proprietary Information Agreement (IPIA). All graduate students, students participating in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), and/or students completing certain capstone projects, are expected to sign the IPIA.
Student inventors seeking to commercialize MIT intellectual property on which they are named as inventors can pursue a license through the Technology Licensing Office (TLO). To determine if patenting (or other methods of protection) and licensing of the technology is feasible, submit an Invention Disclosure.
If you have questions about navigating MIT policies and intellectual property rights, contact us—we are here to help.
Exempt Programs
Inventions developed by students participating in specific programs established to support education in innovation or entrepreneurship and using MIT Funds might be owned by individual inventors or authors and therefore not required to disclose to the TLO, with some exceptions. These programs may fall under the "Exempt Programs" designation. The Vice President for Research maintains a current list of Exempt Programs as part of its Research Policies and Procedures.
However, if you are developing a project in an exempt program that is based on an existing MIT-owned invention, you must inform the TLO and your faculty supervisor, faculty advisor, research advisor, Principal Investigator, or equivalent, and obtain permission or rights from the TLO. Otherwise, any further developments to the invention made or created through the Exempt Program will not be exempt from the “Use of MIT Funds” category.
Thesis Copyright
Your thesis copyright resides with you as the principal author of the work. You must also recognize contributions from your advisor, and any other contributors in the acknowledgments or other appropriate sections of the thesis. Where contributions rise to the level of co-authorship, you should discuss with such contributor(s) whether copyright co-ownership of certain sections of the thesis is appropriate.
As a condition of your degree award, you must grant MIT a nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to exercise any and all rights under copyright, including to reproduce, preserve, distribute, and publicly display copies of the thesis, or release the thesis under an open-access license. Note that discoveries resulting from your thesis research may still be considered MIT IP and should be disclosed to the TLO.
Additional information about thesis copyright is available in MIT’s Policies and Procedures 13.1.2 and in Faculty Regulation 2.73. The MIT Libraries include guidance on current copyright procedures in the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published each year.
Hold Requests
If you wish to keep an invention described in your thesis confidential, a “hold” may be placed on the thesis (making it not publicly available) for one year to allow the TLO to review and, if appropriate, prepare and file a patent application. To request a thesis hold, submit your thesis jointly with your advisor to the TLO via the Invention Disclosure process.
Thesis hold or restricted access requests should be directed to the Office of the Vice Chancellor when related to:
- Student-initiated patents (student holds intellectual property rights as previously determined by TLO) [up to 90-day hold]
- Pursuit of business opportunities (student holds intellectual property rights as previously determined by TLO)[up to 90-day hold]
- Government restrictions [up to 90-day hold]
- Privacy and security [up to 90-day hold]
- Book publication [up to 24-month hold]
Additional information on requesting temporary holds or other restrictions on thesis publication is available on the Office of Graduate Education’s website.