Technology Transfer Office

  • tto@uowm.gr
  • (+30) 24610 56495-6
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Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property

The term Intellectual Property (copyright) refers to the legal rights that protect the creativity of companies and individuals. It refers to any original intellectual creation of words, art or science, expressed in any form, in particular written or oral texts, musical compositions, with or without text, audiovisual works, works of visual art (such as drawings, paintings and sculptures, engrav-ings and lithographs, architectural works, photographs and illustrations), as well as databases and software.

The protection and duration of the above depends on the type of right:
 
  1. Patent (P.I.): an application for a P.I. is required to the Industrial Property Organization (IPO). The Patent Office (OIPO) is responsible for the granting of the IPR. The IP is granted for new inventions involving an inventive step that are susceptible of industrial application. The invention may relate to a product, a method and an industrial application.
  2. Modification Patents (MP): a MP is a protection title granted for an invention which is a modification of another invention already protected by a Patent. The Modification patents may be converted into a Patent at the request of the holder
  3. Utility Model Certificate (USP): the USP is a protection title granted for three-dimensional objects of defined shape and form, proposed as new, industrially applicable and capable of providing a solution to a technical problem.
  4. Intellectual Property Rights (copyright): Intellectual Property Rights are intangible rights that are acquired automatically for each type of original work created and include, the right to exploit the work and the right to protect the link between the creator of the work and the resulting work.

Categories of inventions

  1. The Service Invention, which is the product of a contractual relationship between an employee and an employer to develop an inventive action. The rights to the invention belong entirely to the employer.
  2. Dependent invention, which is an invention carried out by the creator using materials, means or information from the enterprise in which he works. The dependent invention is owned 40% by the employer and 60% by the creator.
  3. Free Invention, which is an invention not falling under 1 or 2 above and which is carried out by a private independent inventor and is wholly owned by them.
    The inventions of Teaching Research Staff (ΔΕΠ), members of the Special Scientific Staff (ΕΕΠ), members of the Special Teaching Staff ( ΕΔΙΠ) and the Special Technical Laboratory Staff (ΕΤΕΠ) fall under the category of dependent inventions. Therefore, any invention, which is developed using the logistical infrastructure of the University of Western Macedonia, falls under the category of dependent inventions.
 

An invention can be commercially exploited in the following ways:

  1. “Technology transfer contract”: in this case the Intellectual Property Rights are transferred and become the property of the spin-off company and therefore constitute its property.
  2. “License agreement”: In this case a licence is granted to the spin-off company but the University of Western Macedonia continues to retain full ownership of the rights and the subsequent right to exploit them in the future.