License Revenue Distribution at
at Rice University

Rice encourages and advances the commercial application of Rice research for the public good by licensing its IP to industry. License agreements between Rice and commercial entities must be consistent with Rice’s missions of education and research, and comply with all Rice policies, including those related to conflicts of interest. License agreements must provide appropriate legal protection for Rice and its faculty, staff, and students and not restrict Rice’s research and publication activities.

Revenue Distribution

• 37.5% to the inventors/creators;

• 18.5% to Rice for use in supporting innovation;

• 14% to the inventors’/creators’ sponsoring Rice department or organizational unit, and

• 30% to Rice

If Rice licenses its IP rights to third parties, Rice must first recover the full cost of the licensing activities - including, but not limited to, the cost of prosecution and legal costs of obtaining an issued patent or other IP protection - before making any further income distributions. Rice may retain a portion of the royalty and other income/consideration received from an IP license to meet its known future or expected expenses. In general, Rice shall divide the remainder of licensing revenue as follows:

If the license agreement enables the transfer of Tangible By-Products of Research for monetary consideration, Rice will distribute 100% of the income or consideration received to the generating Rice laboratory, up to a cumulative $15,000 in a fiscal year; thereafter, Rice will distribute 75% of the income to the generating Rice laboratory, and retain the remaining 25% for Rice.

Rice will distribute the income received from the licensing of Rice IP related to a single technology to the IP’s inventor(s) or creator(s). Inventors or creators may file a Proposed Revenue Sharing Agreement to request that Rice allocate this income in a specific manner. These agreements may be submitted only if unanimously executed by all inventors or creators of the licensed Rice IP, and must be submitted by the earlier of 90 days after (i) submission of the invention disclosure form or (ii) departure of the inventor(s) or creator(s) from Rice. Each agreement must clearly state how Rice should allocate this income among the inventors or creators by specifying percentages or other allocation terms, and stating the reasoning for this proposed arrangement. Templates for this agreement can be obtained from OTT. These agreements will be reviewed and approved by the Faculty Conflicts Committee (FCC; see Rice University Policy 216). Absent a request for a specific revenue sharing arrangement, Rice will distribute revenue in equal amounts to the inventors. FCC decisions on revenue sharing arrangements may be appealed to the EVPR.

Rice will distribute the income received from the licensing of Rice IP related to multiple technologies to the IP’s inventor(s) or creator(s). Inventors or creators may file a Proposed Revenue Sharing Agreement to request that Rice allocate this income in a specific manner. These agreements may be submitted only if unanimously executed by all inventors and creators of the licensed Rice IP, and must be submitted no later than 90 days after Rice’s written notice to the inventors or creators that a license has been executed for their Rice IP. Each agreement must clearly state how Rice should allocate this income, among the inventor(s) or creator(s) and across the licensed technologies, by specifying percentages or other allocation terms, and stating the reasoning for this proposed arrangement. Templates for this agreement can be obtained from OTT. These agreements will be reviewed and approved by the Faculty Conflicts Committee (FCC; see Rice University Policy 216). Absent a request for a specific revenue sharing arrangement, Rice will distribute revenue in equal amounts among the technologies; then, Rice will further distribute revenue for each single technology among the inventor(s), as specified in Section V B.2.c above. FCC decisions on revenue sharing arrangements may be appealed to the EVPR.

Rice OTT encourages the inventors to provide updates to OTT when there are changes to their contact information in order for timely distribution to occur. If an inventor wishes to waive his/her rights to a personal share of any revenues, please email us at ottfinance@rice.edu.

If Rice OTT cannot reach an inventor/creator after multiple documented contact attempts over a six-month period, it will distribute any unclaimed inventor revenue share to the inventor's last known Rice department or administrative unit.

It is the responsibility of the inventor to provide updates to OTT when there are changes to their contact information or distribution status.If an inventor wishes to waive his/her rights to a personal share of any revenues, this intent should be communicated to our office in a separate letter.

Questions related to the disbursement status of any Rice license can be directed to ottfinance@rice.edu.