Information in which interest held, or owned, prepared, used, retained by, or in possession of public university or college; exemption from disclosure; applicability of subsection (1) to information regarding sold or marketed product or process; applicability of MCL 390.1553(3).
MCL 390.1554
in effect390.1554. Information in which interest held, or owned, prepared, used, retained by, or in possession of public university or college; exemption from disclosure; applicability of subsection (1) to information regarding sold or marketed product or process; applicability of MCL 390.1553(3).
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:
(a) 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 reasonable opportunity is provided for the information to be published in a timely manner in a forum intended to convey the information to the academic community.
(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) Section 3(3) applies to information described in this section that is provided by a private external source.
1994, Act 55, Imd. Eff. Apr. 5, 1994
Source: Michigan Legislature (legislature.mi.gov)URL: https://legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-390-1554Fetched: 10/20/2026