Intellectual Property (IP) and copyright are issues that could not be explained in a few sentences. The Intellectual Property Department (IPD) of the Hong Kong SAR Government gives much information on IP rights.
Copyright protects creativity, which includes academic works and artistic products. The University is serious on the issue of copyright and plagiarism. Inside the Student Handbook, the chapter on “Conduct & Discipline” explains:
- the responsibility to avoid possible plagiarism
- reference to and quotation of other people’s works
- proper citation
- intellectual property
- photocopying of copyright materials
PolyU’s Educational Development Centre (EDC) produces a booklet and a tutorial which explain plagiarism, provide a quick guide to citation and referencing, and introduces the use of Turnitin.
Inclusion of copyright materials in research work, if not considered as fair dealing, will require prior permission from the copyright owner. The excerpt of the PolyU Library's presentation given to postgraduate students introduces the essentials of clearing copyright during thesis preparation. For more useful information, please refer to overseas best practices at Monash University or University of Ballarat.
Inventions made by the PolyU research community ought to be protected too by basic legal methods facilitated by the IPD: patents, trademarks and copyrights. A patent prohibits others from using, making, or selling the intellectual property for a maximum of 20 years. More information on the application of standard patent is available at IPD’s web page. Inside the PolyU, Partnership Development Office (PDO) is the key body that manages and protects the university’s intellectual property.
To explore more patents and copyright information required at different stages of the research cycle, a selected list of library and Internet resources can be referred through the Topical Research Guides for "Understanding Intellectual Property: Patents and Copyright".