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IP Ownership Section 2 Consider individuals who may have created IP from another research institution or any other external organisation. IP contributed may either be owned by the individual or that individual's research institution or connected organisation. Check any other university/institution IP policies. Consider any individuals who may have created IP but then left your team to go elsewhere. They may have taken IP with them if it belonged to them. Consultants Consider whether any external consultants have contributed to the development of the materials. Consultants are not classed as employees. IP created by a consultant is likely to be owned by that consultant even if they have been paid to do the work, unless stated otherwise in the individual consultancy agreement. This is particularly relevant in any NHS Trust environment. A Trust may often appoint medical clinicians. The clinician may not be an employee of the Trust and therefore IP may belong to the clinician or their employer. Why should I not own the IP which I create? At the start of a project you may be asked to sign an acknowledgement which states that any IP you may create during the project shall be owned by your university/institution. This, and any other situations, where your university/institution may claim ownership to the IP, is done for a reason. If an invention is made which is capable of commercialisation, it is very unlikely that either you created the invention alone or you would have the funding or resources to patent the invention and take it through to commercialisation (see Section 6 – Commercialisation). IP commercialisation and similar organisations are there to help with this role. If all the IP is in one place, it makes it a lot easier to file applications and deal commercially with the invention. Universities, in particular, will often operate some form of policy so that you can share in the rewards of the commercialisation. Contact your IP commercialisation organisation for further details. 16

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