Who owns an invention made at a university?

The three documents

The institutional IP policy. Most Indian universities and institutes have one, and it usually claims inventions made using institutional resources, with a revenue share back to inventors.

Your own terms. Faculty are usually employees; students often are not, which makes their position different and frequently unaddressed. Research scholars and project staff vary.

The funding or sponsorship agreement. Government schemes and industry sponsors frequently impose ownership, licence-back, working or reporting conditions - sometimes in a schedule rather than the main body.

The part that causes disputes

Inventorship, not ownership. Inventorship is a factual question about who devised the claimed subject matter, and it follows the claims - which change during prosecution. It is not authorship, not seniority, and not a way of recognising effort.

Where two institutions are involved, joint ownership means every future licence and assignment needs both to agree. That is worth resolving in writing while the collaboration is still friendly.

Since 2024 an inventor may separately request a certificate of inventorship from the Controller for a patent in force - useful recognition, and another reason to get the naming right.

What to actually do

• Read the IP policy, your own terms and the funding agreement together.
• Determine inventorship from the technical record, not the author list.
• Resolve joint ownership in writing early.
• Revisit inventorship after any claim amendment.