Any time you are contacted by a lawyer from outside of Georgia Tech regarding any Georgia Tech business, you should refer the lawyer to Legal Affairs. We will handle their request.
If you are sued or served with a subpoena for actions you took in the scope of your employment, then ordinarily you will be defended by the Georgia Attorney General's office. If any judgment is entered against you for actions undertaken in the scope of your employment, it will be covered by the State of Georgia's self-insurance coverage. For specific details on insurance coverage, you should contact the Georgia Tech Office of Insurance and Claims Management.
No, it does not. While you may encourage those who request records to submit their request in writing in order to avoid any misunderstanding, it is not required by the law. Further, the requestor does not have to mention the Open Records Act or give a reason for the request.
You should email our office and if the request is in writing, send a copy of the request to us immediately. You should also identify any documents or other records in your possession that might be responsive to the request and be prepared to provide us with copies.
This is true. Like written communication, e-mail sent or received in the course of employment at Georgia Tech is generally subject to disclosure under the Georgia Open Records Act.
You should not sign the document, and do not have the authority to bind Georgia Tech or the Board of Regents, unless you have express written authorization from the president to do so. If you know which office on campus should handle the matter, you should forward the document to that office. If not, you may forward the document to our office.
Always check with your contracting officer in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) first. Very few research contracts with "legal problems" come to our office for review. If the OSP Contracting Officer indicates that the research contract is being negotiated by Legal Affairs, email us and we will let you know the status of the contract negotiations.
Legal Affairs does not routinely review intellectual property provisions in research contracts. We review intellectual property issues only when we are asked to do so by (IC)3's Office of Innovation, Commercialization and Translational Research.
Intellectual property developed at Georgia Tech is generally owned by the Georgia Tech Research Corporation or Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation under an agreement with the Board of Regents. The Georgia Tech Intellectual Property Policy defines in detail your rights with respect to ownership and royalties.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guarantees students access to their educational records and, with some exceptions, prohibits disclosure of educational records. The exceptions include consent by the student and subpoenas. The Institute may also release directory information without a student's consent, unless the student has specifically requested that directory information be withheld. Directory information is defined on the Registrar's web page at Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
If a request for student records does not fall within one of the exceptions to FERPA you must obtain the student's written consent prior to disclosure. The consent should be signed and dated by the student, must specify what records may be disclosed, provide the purpose of the disclosure and the party/parties who the disclosure may be made.
If you have specific questions regarding FERPA, please contact Legal Affairs.
They save time because they already contain both those provisions which Georgia Tech requires, and the most common provisions requested by vendors or sponsors.
Contact Legal Affairs immediately. While we have successfully negotiated NDAs in tight time frames such as these, we cannot always do so. Most companies require an NDA prior to entering into discussions involving confidential information. As soon as you become aware of the need for an NDA, please contact us.
No. The Office of Legal Affairs' role is to provide legal services to Georgia Tech and therefore Legal Affairs does not provide legal advice or representation to individual Georgia Tech students, faculty or staff for personal matters. If you are interested in finding an attorney to represent you in a personal matter, the Georgia Bar may be able to assist you. You can contact them at 404-527-8700.
Politely ask the agent to show his or her credentials and identification. Write down the name of the agent and copy his or her card or badge and ask why the agent is there. Ask the agent to wait in an area that does not contain any Georgia Tech confidential or proprietary information or any export controlled information and contact the Office of Legal Affairs at 404-894-4812. Do not answer any questions asked by the agent until you have spoken with an attorney from our office.
Any such suspected activity should be immediately reported to the Department of Internal Auditing.
All media inquiries should be immediately directed to the Office of Communications & Marketing. The appropriate person in that office will handle the matter.
All press releases are handled by the Office of Communications & Marketing. Please contact that office for assistance.
It is best not to discuss the lawsuit with your co-worker involved in this lawsuit, or any other Georgia Tech employees. Discussing the lawsuit with the suing co-worker may give an impression of an unfriendly, intimidating or hostile work environment. Additionally, it may give the impression that the co-worker is being retaliated against because he or she has brought a lawsuit against Georgia Tech. If a co-worker has approproached you and wants to discus a co-worker lawsuit or other employee disciplinary matter, please refrain from discussing the matter and contact Legal Affairs.
Intellectual property is knowledge, creative ideas or human expressions that have commercial value and are protectable under copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret laws. Intellectual Property matters are handled at Georgia Tech by (IC)3's Office of Innovation, Commercialization and Translational Research.
Patents protect inventions and improvements to existing inventions. A patent for an invention is a grant of property rights by the U.S. Government through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent grant excludes others from making, using or selling the invention in the United States.
Trademarks include any word, name, symbol or device, or any combination used, or intended to be used in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of goods. In other words, a trademark is a brand name.
Copyrights are a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works including literary, artistic, and musical works.
Trade Secrets are, generally, information that companies keep secret to give them an advantage over their competitors.
In simple terms, an export is a transfer or disclosure of items, materials, information, software, technology or other unclassified but restricted data to any person outside the U.S. (including a U.S. citizen abroad). "Exports" include verbal communication, transfer of written documents, and transfer of U.S. computer software to a foreign national whether in the U.S. or abroad if the technology is controlled by export regulations. It is also possible to commit a "deemed export" if there is a release of technology or code to a foreign national within the U.S. In this context, a "release" is making technology or software available to non-U.S. persons, either visually, orally, or by practice or application under guidance of persons with knowledge of the technology or software. This includes "use technology" -- information on the operation, installation, maintenance, repair, overhaul AND refurbishing of controlled equipment. A "release" requires all six elements and access to a proprietary manual. For more information on exports, please consult the Georgia Tech Export website.
To borrow equipment from a sponsor or other third party for use on a sponsored research project, you should contact your contracting officer in the Office of Sponsored Programs. All other equipment loan agreements are handled by the Office of Legal Affairs and should be forwarded to us for review and approval of the legal terms. Donation agreements should be sent to the Office of Development for handling. Equipment loaned to Georgia Tech is covered by Georgia Tech's insurance only when the loan is covered by a written agreement. Equipment that is donated is covered by insurance once title passes to Georgia Tech; however, equipment donations should also be covered by a written agreement. Contact the Office of Insurance and Claims Management with specific questions regarding insurance coverage for equipment.
No. Contracts for sponsored resarch are handled by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Although there may be legal issues under negotiation by OSP in many of these agreements, the Office of Legal Affairs does not routinely become involved in the negotiation process. Legal Affairs reviews such agreements only if requested to do so by OSP for general legal issues or by (IC)3's Office of Innovation, Commercialization & Translational Research for intellectual property issues, but such reviews occur on few research contracts. If you think Legal Affairs might be involved in the review or negotiation of your research contract and you have not heard from us, please give us a call to determine if the contract is in our office.
No. If, however, you discover that you need one later, you can initiate an NDA by sending a completed and signed NDA routing form to asklegal@gatech.edu.
Yes. You can request an NDA by sending a completed routing form by email to asklegal@gatech.edu or by fax to 404-894-3120. If the company has sent their NDA, please forward it to Legal Affairs with the routing form. The NDA request will be assigned to an attorney who will process the NDA.
Yes. A completed routing form provides the Office of Legal Affairs with the information necessary to immediately begin reviewing or drafting the NDA. Without a completed routing form, we will need to ask the Principal Investigator (“PI”) for the information, possibly delaying the process.
Yes. The type of exchange matters and will determine what kind of agreement is appropriate. When you submit a completed routing form, Legal Affairs will know which type of agreement is necessary and will draft and/or revise an agreement accordingly.
Yes, if possible. Use of the standard forms will expedite the negotiations as the standard forms contain all of our essential provisions. Using our standard forms will allow you to begin exchanging information sooner.
Yes. These documents are available at http://www.legal.gatech.edu/standard-form-agreements.
Yes. As the PI, you manage and control the flow of the company’s confidential information. You also maintain the signature sheet and keep a copy of the NDA to ensure that each employee with access to a company’s confidential information has reviewed the terms of the NDA and understands his or her obligations.
Yes. The period of exchange (also called the Term of the NDA) is the length of time that the parties may disclose information. The period of confidentiality is how long you are required to protect the information that was disclosed to you.
Yes. The standard period of protection is five (5) years from the initial date of receipt of confidential information under the NDA. This period is based upon the Agreement Providing for the Assignment and Administration of Intellectual Properties that each employee signs upon hire.
Yes. Extension documents are required if an NDA’s period of confidentiality exceeds the standard five (5) years required by each employee’s IP Agreement. A period of protection longer than five years is considered an extended period of confidentiality and requires additional internal approvals as well as extension documents.
No. Only authorized signatories may sign agreements for Georgia Tech and Georgia Tech Research Corporation. You are a Georgia Tech authorized signatory if you have a written delegation of signature authority from the President of Georgia Tech. You are authorized to sign for the Georgia Tech Research Corporation if its Board of Directors has approved this delegation of signature authority to you.
No. You may not sign as an agent for Georgia Tech. If you are not an authorized signatory, you are signing in your personal capacity and may be held solely responsible for the obligations and liabilities resulting from the agreement.
Note: If you are not sure whether you are an authorized signatory, please contact the Office of Legal Affairs for assistance.
Yes, but only if the agreement is issued to you as an individual. The agreement should not mention Georgia Tech or the Georgia Tech Research Corporation. For example, you may sign an NDA related to your personal consulting as permitted under http://www.facultyhandbook.gatech.edu/38.5-consulting. When signing as an individual, you may not share Georgia Tech proprietary information with the company and you may not share the company’s proprietary information with anyone at Georgia Tech.
Note: Should you decide to proceed with the agreement, please note that the Office of Legal Affairs is not permitted to advise you about agreements you enter into as an individual. You may wish to seek your own legal counsel for review of any agreement which is issued in your name.
If you are the PI, you will get a signed copy of the NDA with a signature sheet.
Yes. The signature sheet must be returned to Legal Affairs after all Georgia Tech employees who will have access to the company’s proprietary information have signed the signature sheet. Each employee should review the terms of the NDA and understand their obligations under the agreement before signing the signature sheet. Note that employees are obligated to protect proprietary information under the NDA Agreement.
Yes. The signature sheet must be returned even if no information was exchanged. The signature sheet can help us to document when proprietary information was not received. This will help to protect Georgia Tech and our employees in the event of a dispute. If no proprietary information was shared, then you should write a statement to that effect on the signature sheet when you return it.
Yes. By keeping a copy of the NDA, the PI will know what the obligations are. Keeping a copy of the signature sheet allows the PI to manage the flow of information only to the employees who have reviewed the NDA, understand their obligations, and have signed the signature sheet.
No. You may not amend an expired NDA. Once an agreement expires, you need a new agreement. If you are the PI, please contact Legal Affairs before the expiration of the NDA. We can then prepare an amendment to extend the NDA so that you can continue your work. If the agreement has expired, we can help to put a new NDA into place.
No. You may only work off of an existing NDA if the PI identified in the NDA approves of your access to the information. At Georgia Tech, NDAs are specific to the PI, the purpose/subject matter of the exchange, and the company. If the PI approves of your access as a new recipient and you sign the signature sheet, you may work off of the NDA. If you are not approved, then a new NDA may be negotiated for you.
Yes. The Office of Legal Affairs needs to know about foreign nationals in case there is a deemed export. A deemed export occurs when export controlled technology or source code is provided to a foreign national within the United States. For additional information regarding exports, please see http://www.export.gatech.edu.
Yes, but only after an export review has been completed and the exchange with the foreign company has been approved. Sometimes, the exchange will not be approved, but our office will work with you toward a resolution. Please see http://www.export.gatech.edu/ for additional information regarding export reviews.
Note: Export reviews may delay the processing of your NDA so please send these requests to the Office of Legal Affairs as soon as possible so that we may help you meet your needs. Compliance with the export laws is federally required and is not optional for Georgia Tech.
Yes. Please complete and sign the routing form and provide all the requested information so we can initiate the review of the agreement immediately. During negotiation, if a company does not respond to Legal Affairs, we may ask you to reach out to your technical counterpart for assistance. Together, we can get the NDA finished so you can start your work.
Yes. Please feel free to send questions to asklegal@gatech.edu or call 404-894-4812.