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6 WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? What is IP? IP is a term used to describe the various rights which protect your ideas and other forms of intellectual creation. There are several types of IP rights which protect different types of creation. Some of these rights, such as patents, have to be registered to be effective whereas others arise automatically. IP can be split into six main categories as illustrated opposite. The creators of copyright works have some additional rights called moral rights, such as the right to be named as the author of the work. These are personal rights which are not strictly IP, but you may sometimes come across them. You may also have seen the terms background IP and foreground IP being used in research contracts. These, or similar terms, do not always have the same meanings. You have to look at how they are defined in each contract. In very broad terms though: > background IP is any IP belonging to one or more of the collaborators which already existed before the date of the agreement or before the project started. It should be limited to IP which is relevant to the subject matter of the project and, ideally, listed. > foreground IP is any IP that is generated by the research. Its ownership will be determined by the terms of the research contract. Ideally the University owns any foreground IP which its people create. Research contracts where these concepts arise usually give express rights to publish and licensing and assignment deals will usually reserve rights for ongoing research. A more detailed description of the different types of IP, together with some practical examples of the sorts of things that they protect, are set out in the IP Awareness Resource and IP and Confidentiality: A Researcher's Guide. Today's communication technology is based on the work of Tom Kilburn and Freddie Williams, who developed the world's first modern computer at The University of Manchester

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