Intellectual Property Advisory Committee (IPAC)

The committee is composed of "faculty, staff, and other persons experienced in intellectual property matters.";

The IPAC is charged with evaluating inventor or author disclosure forms to determine the ownership, patentability and/or commercial potential of the invention or work. The IPAC will then provide the President with its recommendations.

In order to do this, the committee may:

• Interview the inventor or author or other persons
• Help the inventor to refine his/her idea to make it patentable or copyrightable
• Consider the acts of the inventor in particular that may bar patentability
• Consider the commercial potential from a business standpoint
• Consult private legal counsel (with approval by State Attorney General) or the Office of the General Counsel
• Recommend to President (or designee) whether to proceed with patent protection, copyright registration or commercialization on behalf of the university
• Inform inventor or author of President's (or designee's) decision

The IPAC will also review and consider recommending changes in MTSU Intellectual Property policy annually.

The 2012-2014 IPAC members are:

• Charles Perry, ETIS and Russell Chair of Manufacturing Excellence
• William Robertson, Physics and Astronomy
• Douglas Tatum, Entrepreneurship
• Deborah Wagnon, Recording Industry
• Lou Svendsen, TBR Counsel
• Andrienne Friedli, Office of Research

The committee reports to:

Dr. Michael Allen, Vice Provost for Research, designee for President McPhee