Sec. 51.912.  EQUITY OWNERSHIP;  BUSINESS PARTICIPATION.  (a)  It is not a violation of Chapter 572, Government Code, or any other statute, rule, regulation, or the common law of the State of Texas for:
(1)  an employee of a university system or an institution of higher education as defined in Section 61.003 of this code, who conceives, creates, discovers, invents, or develops intellectual property, to own or to be awarded any amount of equity interest or participation in, or, if approved by the institutional governing board, to serve as a member of the board of directors or other governing board or an officer or an employee of, a business entity that has an agreement with the state or a political subdivision of the state relating to the research, development, licensing, or exploitation of that intellectual property;  or
(2)  an individual, at the request and on behalf of a university system or an institution of higher education as defined in Section 61.003 of this code, to serve as a member of the board of directors or other governing board of a business entity that has an agreement with the state or a political subdivision of the state relating to the research, development, licensing, or exploitation of intellectual property in which the university system or institution of higher education has an ownership interest.
(b)  An employee or individual covered by Subsection (a) of this section must report to the appropriate person or persons at the system or institution at which the person is employed or on behalf of which the person is serving the name of such business entity in which the person has an interest or for which the person serves as a director, officer, or employee.
(c)  The governing board of each system and institution shall include in the appropriate annual report required by Section 51.005 the information that is provided to it under Subsection (b) of this section during the preceding fiscal year.
Added by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 845, Sec. 2, eff. Aug. 31, 1987.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(38), eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 823, Sec. 5, eff. Aug. 28, 1995.