National Code of Practice for Managing Intellectual Property ... - Forfás

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As all research collaborations are different, ownership and access to IP should be negotiated on a project by
project basis. In conducting such negotiations, decisions on allocating ownership and access should principally be
based on a combination of the funding contributions by the parties, their intellectual contribution to the research
project, the optimum exploitation route for a particular technology and the partner(s) best positioned to protect and
exploit the IP. Further considerations are outlined in the guidelines below. The agreement reached should ensure
fair and reasonable incentives for all parties, and should also ensure that PROs are free to pursue similar lines of
research with other industrial partners, while respecting existing IP ownership and confidentiality agreements.
Special attention will be required in the case of IP arising from technologies with applications in multiple products
and across several technology sectors.
Discussion between parties to arrive at an agreed arrangement on ownership and access to IP should include
consideration of three key factors (1) financial input, (2) intellectual input and (3) capacity to exploit. Issues
to be addressed should include:
Financial input:
4 Relative financial contribution from the parties;
4 Requirement to strike a fair and reasonable incentivisation between all parties involved in the project;
4 Other input to the project, including researchers, equipment and provision of materials, and a clear
understanding and financial outline of in-kind contributions;
4 Impact on future research – is it compromised? All parties should understand the relationship of the current
research to future academic research.
Intellectual input:
4 Nature and scope of the proposed collaboration;
4 Level of intellectual input from both sides, is there a genuine collaborative effort?
4 Relative abilities of the partners to obtain, maintain and, where necessary, defend IPR.