Price on dons' heads

Oxford dons will gain a bigger slice of profits earned through exploitation of their research under rules governing the university's growing spin-off businesses.

An intellectual property policy that comes into force in the new year will be expanded and clarify profit-sharing between the colleges and central administration.

Oxford's five-year-old policy was rewritten on the advice of the technology transfer advisory group. Greater incentives will be offered to individual researchers.

"The position for the individual researcher will be significantly more favourable," said the university in its notice of the statute change. Bands that determine how royalties are divided have been altered to allow the researcher a greater share of the spoils. Individual researchers will be able to keep 90 per cent of royalties on all revenues up to Pounds 50,000 - instead of Pounds 30,000 - where responsibility for the exploitation of research is with an outside sponsor or an industrial partner.

The thresholds governing profit sharing will also be raised in the researcher's favour for intellectual property exploited through Oxford's commercial spin-offs arm, Isis Innovation.

The policy has been extended to cover all staff to "complement the university's commitment to equality in its practices of employment" and offer "external funding agencies a clear basis on which to fund research and to negotiate the exploitation of intellectual property rights".

Electronic course materials were previously excluded.

Oxford will be allowed to claim a share of royalties for intellectual property created by "employees of colleges in the course of their employment by the colleges" if the college researchers make use of any central university facilities.