For Researchers

Contract Management and Signature Authority

At UC Berkeley, different administrative offices have the delegated authority to negotiate and sign specific legal agreements. Signature authority is typically based on (1) the agreement type and (2) the type of funding. The Decision Support Tool for Contracts can help in determining the appropriate contract office to execute your agreement.

A Primer for IP Rights Agreements

There are several different forms of licensing arrangements that companies can explore for commercializing UC Berkeley research discoveries. The IPIRA Office of Technology Licensing negotiates these contracts on behalf of UC Berkeley, with standardized terms designed to lower transaction costs, and accelerate the commercialization of university research. Companies choose whether to enter into an IP rights letter agreement or option agreement, or pursue a full license agreement immediately, based on their strategy for ...

Annual Reports, Guides and Policies

Licensing Practices to Support Startups

UC Berkeley encourages the formation of companies that develop products based on technologies that are created by our researchers. Successfully developing products and building companies is extraordinarily challenging. Accordingly, the campus provides an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that supports our entrepreneurs and startups. As part of our ecosystem, the UC Berkeley Office of Technology Licensing follows 12 practices to support early stage startups that license the university’s IP. An asterix (*) designates practices that are also followed when licensing to mature startups...

IPIRA Publications

Confidential Disclosure Agreement Request

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Do I need to be aware of any conflicts of interest or conflicts of commitment?

Simply advising startup companies doesn’t create a conflict. However, conflicts can arise if, for example: (a) you or the startup conduct commercial work in your lab, or (b) you are compensated by the startup and advise the startup more than the allowable number of days.

Here’s a good resource regarding conflicts of interests: https://researchcoi.berkeley.edu/faq.html

Note that UC Berkeley has a program administered by IPIRA that enables startups affiliated with the university’s accelerators to conduct...

Do I need to disclose my startup advising to the university?

If you are receiving compensation (e.g. cash or equity) in return for advising a startup, then it’s considered a Category II activity, and accordingly, you need to annually report this activity to the university.

If you are not receiving compensation for your advising, then the activity is not likely to incur the time and responsibility required to merit annual disclosure to the university.

Here’s a good summary of the different categories of activity, and corresponding policies:

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The Licensing Process

Goals

A goal of UC Berkeley’s Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) is to establish license agreements that lead to the fast and broad commercialization of Berkeley technologies to: (1) benefit the public, (2) fund research and education on the campus, and (3) reward inventors for their ingenuity. Therefore, we are motivated to expeditiously negotiate licenses with reasonable terms that consider business plans, market economics, and technology stage.

Timing

The OTL closely monitors the cadence and time it takes to complete a license. Please see below for tips on how to expedite the...

Guides to Industry-University Relationships