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Intellectual Property/Results Section 9 37 n Sideground This is information and IP created on or after the commencement date of the contract but outside the Project. This is to ensure that, for instance, work being done elsewhere within your institution is not inadvertently swept up as Foreground IP. In this Guide, we call this Sideground IP, but frequently in contracts you will see it bundled in with the definition of Background IP. Where you have several Research Contracts with one organisation, either running back to back or side by side, it is important that you know which IP was created under which Research Contract and therefore which category it falls into. It frequently happens that even in contracts between the same organisations that terminology is different and the rules applying to that IP will be different from contract to contract. You will probably have various Research Contracts ongoing with different organisations. It is even more important here to be absolutely clear which IP was generated under which contract and therefore the rules which apply to it. The necessary record-keeping may seem tedious at times but it is important in the long run. You do not want to be in the middle of a fight between such organisations about who has what rights over which IP. Ownership You would expect a Research Contract to be clear about who owns the relevant Background IP, Sideground IP and Foreground IP. Research Contracts generally say that each participant owns its own Background IP and Sideground IP. Ownership of the Foreground IP will vary from contract to contract. In the case of contract research, for instance, it is usually the funder who will own the Foreground IP. In other cases participants frequently retain ownership of the Foreground IP which they create.