51³Ô¹ÏÍø

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual Property (known as "IP"), is any intangible material, concept or other property that is the result of creativity. This can include things like patentable inventions, scientific discoveries and research results, as well as broader concepts and designs. We have included a full list of the items that 51³Ô¹ÏÍø considers IP in a later section of this resource.

Employees of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø

The Patents Act 1977 and the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, alongside any other relevant legislation, state that all forms of IP created or developed by an employee, within the normal course of their duties as an employee, belongs to their Employer. In this case, any and all IP created by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø staff members as part of their work at the College, is owned by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø.

For works completed outside of an employee’s usual duties, that have been commissioned or instructed by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, the employee is required to assign the rights to any created IP to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø. 

Students of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Where students create IP in the course of their work or studies, they themselves will own the rights to the IP, unless:

1.   They create IP that is subject to the terms of an agreement or contract with a third party or other external party, and the terms of the agreement dictate that the IP is owned by the College or by the third party.

2.   They create new IP that builds upon existing IP already owned by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, or otherwise created by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø employees or associates.

3.   They create IP in partnership with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø employees or associates.

4.   They are, or have the status of, an 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Employee. 

In the above exceptions, the Student will be treated the same as an Employee and will be required to assign the IP rights to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø. This also means they can take advantage of the Reward to Inventors Scheme, in respect of IP that generates revenue.

Associates to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Defined as other individuals who are associated with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, but are not Students or Employees. This could include Visiting Researchers, Readers, Honoraries, Senior Research Investigators, or other similar roles.

Persons in these roles may be required to assign the IP rights to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, as the IP will likely be generated over the course of their work with the College. Additionally, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø may have obligations to funding bodies that it would not be able to comply with if the College does not have the rights to the IP.

In the context of revenue generated by IP, Associates are usually treated as Employees. There are some exceptions that require special arrangements, where the individual retains employment with another organisation during their work with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø (e.g. Visiting Professors). This will require a case-by-case negotiation of the rights assigned to the involved parties, and for the details of revenue sharing. In the first instance, contact the Research Office as soon as possible to seek advice. This must be completed as early in the research process as possible. 

Copyright

51³Ô¹ÏÍø waives its right to copyright of IP when the IP is textbooks, research publications, or other teaching materials, and states that the relevant individuals may publish these items to their own benefit. It should be noted that 51³Ô¹ÏÍø will be entitled to a global, royalty-free, in perpetuity license for the use of any such materials for the sole purpose of research and education at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, across all media. It is the responsibility of the individual to make any prospective publisher (or similar) aware of this commitment.

All 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Employees, Students, and Associates must familiarise themselves with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s “Research Publications Open Access Policy”, which maintains that certain academic outputs should be available in an open source format. 

The above discretionary copyright waiver does not cover other work commissioned by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, which will have its own copyright agreement. This includes copyrighted works generated via research or other commissioned activities such as computer software, databases or other materials with commercial potential.

Commercialisation of IP

The full list of IP that 51³Ô¹ÏÍø lays claim to when any of the previously described conditions are met includes:

• Patents
• Utility Models
• Trade and Service Marks
• Trade Names
• Rights in:
  • Domain names
  • Designs
  • Copyrights
  • Moral rights
  • Topography rights
  • Databases
  • Trade secrets
  • Works created by computer hardware or software owned or operated by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø
  • Works created with the aid of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø facilities including (by example):
    • Films
    • Photographs
    • Multimedia works
    • Typographic arrangements
    • Field and laboratory notebooks
  • Chemical or biological materials including any:
    • Organic/Inorganic element
    • Nucleotide or nucleotide sequence including DNA and RNA sequences
    • Gene
    • Vector or construct including plasmids, phages or viruses
    • Host organisms including bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa and hybridomas
    • Eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell lines or expression systems, or any development strain or product of that cell line or expression system
    • Protein including any peptide or amino acid sequence
    • Enzyme
    • Antibody or protein conferring targeting properties
    • Any fragment of a protein or peptide enzyme or antibody
    • Drug or pro-drug
    • Assay or reagent
    • Any other genetic material or micro-organism
    • Data for the derivation of molecular structures including NMR spectra, X-ray diffraction patterns and other primary experimental information
    • Assignments and other calculations required for determination of the structure, and co-ordinates of the derived molecular structure
    • Transgenic animal
  • Confidential information and/or know-how

51³Ô¹ÏÍø aims to incentivize innovation and spinouts by licensing technologies and IPs owned by the College to companies that are able to maximise the real-world potential and societal impact of the innovation.

Where 51³Ô¹ÏÍø considers an innovation to have commercial potential, the College will seek out and negotiate commercial terms and contracts, alongside the application for patents and other protective registrations (at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s own expense). This falls under 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s own commercialisation company, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College Innovations Ltd, which is responsible for the securing of legal agreements and for the licensing and creation of spinouts.

Once a spinout has been successful and has begun generating revenue, the original innovators will be eligible for a cut of said revenue as part of the Reward to Innovators Scheme.

Record Keeping in IP

Any individual who creates or works on IP should keep clear and retrievable records of the basis and development of said IP. All records should be in readily accessible formats and stored securely. Not only does this support the obligations of good research practice, but it will also aid in securing any claim to an IP.

All individuals engaged in research at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø must abide by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Guidelines for Proper Scientific Conduct in Research Policy.

Confidentiality

N.B. It is a condition of employment/affiliation that all individuals must familiarize themselves with, and uphold, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Data Protection & Confidentiality policies regarding any and all sensitive data they interact with during their work.

In the context of IP development and research, employees and other affiliates will be subject to either a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) and/or a Research Contract. As such, all confidential or sensitive information received under these contracts must be held confidentially and only disclosed to authorised individuals (e.g. other members of the research team, but only those stated in the relevant agreement or contract). Individuals also have some responsibility over how data is handled within the relevant team members – it is recommended that you don’t release confidential data to team members who do not adhere to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Data Protection & Confidentiality policies, where it can be avoided. If you have concerns about how other team members are handling sensitive or confidential materials, you should report your concerns to your Supervisor (or other relevant authority such as a PI/CI etc.). 

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Name, Brand and Logos

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College Secretary is responsible for overseeing the use of the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø brand and associated items. You can check the details of this in 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Financial Regulations Pt 1.

Interpretation

In the event of any disagreement between an individual and 51³Ô¹ÏÍø on the subjects of the IP Policy, which cannot be resolved by discussion, the dispute may be referred to the Director of the Research Office by either party.

Contact

IP cases at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø are largely handled by . You can reach the Enterprise team . 

Further Reading

You can access the full Intellectual Property Policy, and other useful policies and resources at these links:

51³Ô¹ÏÍø Intellectual Property Policy

51³Ô¹ÏÍø Research Publications Open Access Policy

51³Ô¹ÏÍø Guidelines for Proper Scientific Conduct in Research Policy

51³Ô¹ÏÍø Financial Regulations (Feb 2024)

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You can download a copy of this resource here:  IP at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø (PDF)

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