Bill Text: MI HB4210 | 2009-2010 | 95th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Higher education; research; exemption of certain intellectual property created for a state university or community college from freedom of information act; revise. Amends sec. 4 of 1994 PA 55 (MCL 390.1554).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-02-11 - Printed Bill Filed 02/11/2009 [HB4210 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2009-HB4210-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 4210

 

February 10, 2009, Introduced by Rep. Opsommer and referred to the Committee on Education.

 

     A bill to amend 1994 PA 55, entitled

 

"Confidential research and investment information act,"

 

by amending section 4 (MCL 390.1554).

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 4. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the

 

following information in which a public university or college holds

 

an interest, or that is owned, prepared, used, or retained by, or

 

in the possession of, a public university or college, is exempt

 

from disclosure as a public record under the freedom of information

 

act, Act No. 442 of the Public Acts of 1976, being sections 15.231

 

to 15.246 of the Michigan Compiled Laws 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to

 

15.246:

 

     (a) Intellectual Subject to subsection (3), intellectual

 

property created by a person employed by or under contract to a

 

public university or college for purposes that include research,

 

education, and related activities, until a but only until 1 of the

 

following occurs:

 

     (i) A reasonable opportunity is provided for the information to

 

be presented or published in a timely manner in a forum intended to

 

convey the information to the academic community.

 

     (ii) The public university or college presents the information

 

in a public forum.

 

     (iii) The public university or college publishes more than an

 

insignificant amount of the information in any newspaper,

 

newsletter, or nonacademic magazine.

 

     (iv) The public university or college makes available to the

 

legislature or the general public the findings, the results, or a

 

summary of the information.

 

     (b) Original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium

 

of expression created by a person employed by or under contract to

 

a public university or college for purposes that include research,

 

education, or related activities, until a reasonable opportunity is

 

provided for the author to secure copyright registration, not to

 

exceed 12 months from the date the work is first fixed in a

 

tangible medium of expression.

 

     (c) Records regarding a process, a machine, an item of

 

manufacture, or a composition of matter, or any new and useful

 

improvement of a process, a machine, an item of manufacture, or a

 

composition of matter, until a reasonable opportunity is provided

 

for the inventor to secure patent protection, not to exceed 5 years

 

from the date the records are first made.

 

     (d) Trade secrets or other proprietary information in which a

 

public university or college holds an interest or that a public

 

university or college owns that is determined by the public

 

university or college to have potential commercial value, if a

 

general description of the nature of the information and a

 

description of the extent of the interest held by the public

 

university or college in the information is made available to a

 

person upon request.

 

     (2) To the extent that the information and its commercial

 

value are capable of being adequately protected by copyright,

 

patent, or trademark protection and are not encompassed by a

 

pending, unissued patent application, subsection (1) does not apply

 

to information regarding a product or process if the public

 

university or college is selling or marketing the product or

 

process to the general public.

 

     (3) The exemption described in subsection (1)(a) applies only

 

to the intellectual property created by the person employed by or

 

under contract to the public university or college and does not

 

exempt information relating to the terms of employment or

 

engagement of that person to create the intellectual property, the

 

costs and sources of funding for creating that intellectual

 

property, or any other financial information relating to the

 

creation of the intellectual property, from the freedom of

 

information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.

 

     (4) (3) Section 3(3) applies to information described in this

 

section that is provided by a private external source.