Project planning: Intellectual property

Updated October 2011

In most instances, project partners will retain the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) which arise as a result of JISC funding. Further information on Intellectual Property.

Ownership of IPR within the project

You should think through how IPR will be handled within the project. If the project involves more than one institution, provisions for IPR should be covered in the Consortium Agreement. They may also want to discuss IPR with their institutional department that handles collaboration, technology transfer, or innovations. 

  • In the project plan, indicate which partner will own the IPR created by the project.
  • Ensure that you outline licensing provisions to enable project partners to freely use each other’s IPR which brought to the project (Background IPR) as well as generated by the project itself (Foreground IPR).
  • List any IPR owned by third parties (Third Party IPR) that will be incorporated into project outputs, when/how you will obtain permission to use them, who will take responsibility for securing the rights and any implications for project outputs after the project ends.

Specific Issues to consider

Consult JISC Legal for help and advice

  • What Background IPR can be used by the others during the project, and how can it be used?
  • Who will own the Foreground IPR?  Will it be owned by the partners jointly or will the partner that created a deliverable own and be responsible for the IPR? How will each partner be able to use the Foreground IPR? Consult JISC Legal1 for help and advice
  • Is IPR created by staff (or students) owned by them or the institution, and will any permissions and further releases by needed?
  • How will any exploitation of IPR developed by the project be handled when it ends?
  • If a commercial partner is involved, what IPR will they own and what IPR can they exploit after the project ends?
  • Under what specific licensing terms will be the project outputs be used by end users and how will your project ensure that these licensing terms are compliant with JISC’s Terms and Conditions of Funding?
  • How will you ensure that any permissions to use the IPR in your project outputs (Background IPR, Foreground IPR and Third Party IPR) is compatible with the end use licensing terms you decide upon?

How IPR is handled will depend on the project, its deliverables, its end use licence and in some cases by the policies of the institution(s). Think about the deliverables, what makes sense in terms of how they will be used, and what will happen to them after the project ends. 

 Here are two scenarios:

  • Learning materials:  It makes sense for each partner to own the learning materials they create. Each partner would clear any third-party permissions for the learning materials they create, secure any necessary releases from staff, and their institution would sign the licence agreement to make them available to JORUM.
  • Software or technical deliverables:  Each deliverable could be owned by the partner that created it or they could be owned by the partners jointly.  However, it probably makes sense for one partner to administer the IPR for each deliverable and be responsible for licensing. Only a legal entity can sign a licence agreement, so unless the partners form a legal entity to administer IPR, it’s probably simpler for one of the institutions to act for them.

These are simply scenarios for you to consider and they don’t constitute legal advice. Institutions should think through the IPR implications for their particular project and the deliverables they will create .

Third-party rights

Institutions and their partners must ensure that deliverables don't infringe copyright or other third party IPR . You must familiarise yourself with intellectual property and copyright law and ensure you abide by it. The JISC Legal website2 explains IPR, has publications and other resources, and provides an email enquiry service.

If you wish to include materials where copyright or other IPR are owned by a third party, you need specific permission from the owner. For content creation projects, third-party rights should be cleared before digitisation begins or cleared in stages as a managed part of the creation process. Rights need to be cleared for networked delivery of these resources for learning, teaching and research. It is a matter for institutions or other partners to ensure that their rights are adequately protected. Consult your programme manager if you have any questions about how to proceed.  
  

Publication


Further resources

JISC Legal 5 provides legal resources for HE/FE, especially for those working in information services areas. Their website has briefing documents, publications, and links to other useful sites on IPR. They also sponsor workshops and have an email enquiry service.

 

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