Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1984 [PAGE 106]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1982]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

97

2. T h e action of the Board of Trustees on May 18, 1977, adopting and approving guidelines and definitions pertaining to the handling of locally held funds is rescinded; 3. The University of Illinois Foundation, the University of Illinois Alumni Association, and the Athletic Association of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are encouraged to adopt the provisions of Section VI of the "University Guidelines 1982" as their respective operating policies; and 4. This resolution shall remain in effect until modified or rescinded by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

On motion of Dr. Donoghue, these recommendations were approved and the foregoing resolution was adopted.

Agreement with Agrigenetics Research Associates Limited (Exceptions to the General Rules)

(10) Agrigenetics Research Associates Limited (ARA) of Golden, Colorado, proposes to provide funding for two soybean research projects in the College of Agriculture at Urbana-Champaign, totaling $1,578,433 over a four-year period. Professors Jack M. Widholm and Theodore Hymowitz each would direct one of the projects in the Agronomy Department, and other University personnel would be assigned to the projects. ARA is a limited partnership, formed to sponsor research in designated areas of agriculture. A number of such ARA projects are underway at other universities. As a research and development enterprise, ARA has selected a method of research support that has as its basic element the ownership and assignment by the inventor to ARA of rights in any discovery arising from the research. T h e tax treatment for ARA investors rests on that assignment, according to advice ARA has received. T h e General Rules Concerning University Organization and Procedure state that the University holds title to all inventions and discoveries developed under University research contracts. Because of the importance of this research, exceptions to the General Rules and amendments to the University appointments of the researchers assigned to the projects are proposed to allow the researchers to hold original title to inventions and discoveries arising from the work supported by ARA, contingent upon assignment of all inventors' rights jointly to ARA and to the University in equal shares. ARA would have an exclusive right to develop the inventions and discoveries, and the University and the researchers would receive a percentage of the income received by ARA or any ARA affiliate. T h e proposed contracts between ARA and the University also require an advance on royalties be paid by ARA directly to the researchers in an amount not to exceed $1,000 at the time the researcher is assigned to the project, as consideration for the inventor assigning the rights to ARA. This royalty distribution is at variance with the provisions in the General Rules for sharing income with inventors. Further distributions of royalty income from ARA will be made to the University, and adjustments can then be made to provide the inventor's share in accordance with the formula established by the University's General Rules. If no future income is received, the University will not receive a share of the initial advances. When a single product utilizes discoveries developed by more than one university under ARA funding, the relative economic value of the contributions of each would be determined by arbitration. If a product is marketed outside the commercial field of plant agriculture, the royalty rate would be arbitrated on the basis of the fair and usual practice in the new field of application; but in no event would the royalty rate be less than that provided in the contracts for the commercial field of agriculture.