🔐 Intellectual Property Protection Terms

                Key Principle: You retain full ownership and control of all intellectual property, innovations, and solutions you submit to the NSF Futures Engine platform.
            

1. Your IP Rights

Full Ownership: You maintain complete ownership of all innovations, technologies, research, and solutions you submit
Visibility Control: You decide whether your solutions are public, private, or NDA-only
Access Control: You approve or decline requests to view your private solutions
Modification Rights: You can edit, update, or remove your submissions at any time
Withdrawal Rights: You can withdraw from the platform and remove all your data

2. Platform Commitments

The NSF Futures Engine platform commits to:

Never claiming ownership of your intellectual property
Maintaining strict access controls on private solutions
Providing audit trails of who views your sensitive information
Requiring verified status for operators requesting private solution access
Logging all administrative actions on your account

3. Solution Visibility Levels

Public Solutions: Visible to all platform users, included in search results and explore pages

Private Solutions: Only visible to you and approved operators. Requires your explicit approval for access.

NDA-Only Solutions: Requires formal non-disclosure agreements before access (future feature)

4. Operator Access Process

Only verified operators can request access to private solutions
You receive notification of all access requests
You can approve or decline requests with optional messaging
All access is logged and tracked for your review
You can revoke access at any time

5. Administrative Oversight

Platform administrators may view solutions for:

Technical support and troubleshooting
Content moderation and policy compliance
Platform improvement and analytics

All administrative actions are logged and auditable.

6. Data Security

All data is encrypted in transit and at rest
Access controls are enforced at the database level
Regular security audits and monitoring
Compliance with federal data protection standards

7. Your Responsibilities

Accurately represent your ownership of submitted IP
Respect the intellectual property rights of others
Use appropriate visibility settings for sensitive information
Promptly report any suspected IP violations

8. Platform Use License

By using this platform, you grant the NSF Futures Engine a limited, non-exclusive license to:

Display your public solutions to platform users
Include your public solutions in aggregated statistics
Use your public solutions for platform improvement

This license does not grant ownership rights and can be revoked by withdrawing your solutions.

                Questions or Concerns?

                Contact our IP protection team at ip-support@futuresengine.dev.rtd.asu.edu

                Or reach out to the NSF program office for additional guidance.

Terms Version: 1.0
Last Updated: January 2025
Effective Date: Platform Launch
Authority: NSF Futures Engine in the Southwest Initiative, Arizona State University