The Intellectual Property Committee is a standing committee that is charged by the President to advise and recommend to the President, policies and procedures for management of intellectual property matters. The Committee shall review invention disclosures and, in each case, recommend that the Institution adopt one or more of the following (within 60 days from the first scheduled meeting after the disclosure is made):

1) determine whether the disclosure represents intellectual property that is a trade secret, or whether it is an invention that would require patent protection;

2) ascertain whether the invention disclosure can be adequately evaluated by the intellectual property committee or whether to defer evaluation to an external intellectual property management agency.

3) institute action to protect the disclosed invention as intellectual property of Morehouse School of Medicine.

4) transfer intellectual property rights of the described disclosure to the research sponsor, if such transfer is required by the research agreement;

5) waive ownership of the intellectual property rights regarding the disclosed technology in favor of the inventor and release the inventor from further responsibility to the university with respect to the technology that was disclosed,

6) request additional pertinent information needed for the committee to evaluate the disclosure. In such circumstances, the committee shall deem the disclosure “not adequate” and the calculation of the time frames shall not begin until the requested information is received by the committee.

The members of the intellectual property committee shall be appointed by the President to serve a three-year term to include an Ad Hoc member, ex officio representation of legal and Office for Research Development. Current membership is as follows:

Jonathan Stiles, Chair
Harvey Bumpers
Nerimiah Emmett
Sandra Harris-Hooker
James Lillard
Gale Newman
Marilyn Pruitt
Veena Rao
Perry Riggins
Sandra Watson
Lawrence Wineski