intellectual-property patents india ownership state-university
Does use of university servers give them ownership over IP?
<p>I'm currently pursuing my undergrad at an Indian university. I (and a few of my batchmates) have created a website in our free time, for which we intend to apply for a patent. The website was initially hosted on AWS and we have yesterday started migrating to servers provided by the university itself. I had two questions in my mind.</p>
<p><strong>1)</strong> Are websites (if they do something which hasn't been done before) eligible for a patent?</p>
<p><strong>2)</strong> If not (1), then can we patent the idea which gave birth to the website?</p>
<p><strong>3)</strong> Does the use of the university's servers grant the ownership of the patent to them?</p>

<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Are websites (if they do something which hasn't been done before)
eligible for a patent?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>Only if it meets the requirements for patentability such as originality, non-obviousness, non-publication, and utility. The fact that a website merely does something that hasn't been done before, however, isn't enough to make an idea patentable.</p>
<p>Also, generally, it is the idea behind a website that is patentable and not the website itself. A website will usually have copyright protection, but will only rarely be eligible for patent protection.</p>
<p>The very act of using the website in a manner accessible to the public which may publicly disclose the idea that you seek to patent threatens its patentability.</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="2">
<li>If not (1), then can we patent the idea which gave birth to the
website?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>If the idea behind the website is patentable, yes.</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="3">
<li>Does the use of the university's servers grant the ownership of the
patent to them?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>No.</p>
<p>It is conceivable that there could be a separate express agreement between you and the university that some of the work you do as part of the university program at its direction could be considered &quot;work for hire&quot; that belongs to the university (e.g. if it arose from your work as a research assistant and there is an express RA contract that says so).</p>
<p>But, in general, the mere use of the university's services does not give it any rights in a patent that you develop using those servers.</p>
