First of all, your school's statement about the intellectual property ownership of papers is legal, which involves the definition of "service invention".
China's patent law divides inventions into two categories: service inventions and non-service inventions. According to the provisions of the Patent Law and its detailed rules for implementation, inventions and creations under the following circumstances belong to service inventions and creations. ?
(1) Inventions and creations completed by inventors in their own work; ?
(2) Inventions and creations completed when performing tasks unrelated to the work delivered by the unit; ?
(3) Inventions and creations that mainly utilize the material conditions of the entity (including funds, equipment, spare parts, raw materials or technical materials that are not disclosed to the public); ?
(four) inventions made within one year after resignation, retirement or transfer of work related to their own work or assigned tasks undertaken by the original unit. ?
Inventions other than those mentioned above are non-service inventions. ?
The right to apply for a patent for a service invention-creation belongs to the unit. ?
The right to apply for a patent for a non-service invention-creation belongs to individuals.
According to the above explanation, your graduate project was completed in this school, and you & your tutor used the material and technical conditions of this school, which is your study & work task, so intellectual property rights should belong to the school.
To comfort your mentor. Although others left the school, the project was completed in the original school, so you can't take the intellectual property away.
I have encountered many such ownership disputes. The original school will not give up its rights easily, and in the end it may go to court to determine the ownership of rights, which is not good for you.
If you want to know about patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, please visit www.ip-times.com.