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Industry is increasingly turning to universities and other academic institutions to access innovation. Recent examples include many multiple party consortiums and multiple year collaborations with large pharma companies involving funding of $100 million or more. Academic institutions can be a rich source of innovative research, but industrial partners should keep in mind some legal constraints that apply specifically to universities. The following is a summary of the some of the more important issues in five of the more important countries for academic research:

France

France is attempting to foster the development of technology transfers and the creation of partnerships between universities and private undertakings.

The licensing and technology transfer arrangements are not subject to specific regulations limiting the assignment of IP rights from universities to private undertakings. To the contrary, universities have set up specific departments aiming at promoting the valorization of IP rights vested in the universities.

IP Ownership. Universities are assigned with the IP rights (the assignment of authors’ rights benefit from a different regime) arising out of any research conducted within the framework of university laboratories and educational studies. Universities can grant either exclusive or non-exclusive licensing rights to industrial partners. Inventions created in partnership with private companies can be jointly owned by companies and universities. Several patents are filed by universities and industrial companies. IP rights may also be assigned from universities to private companies.

Specific mechanisms have been launched to encourage the partnership between universities and private companies since the Act on research and innovation of July 12, 1999 (notably those permitting the secondment of researchers to private companies).

According to the French intellectual property code, professors and researchers are subject to the same obligations concerning assignment of their rights in invention that apply to employees (inventions in the scope of the mission of the professors belong to the university, researchers benefit from a specific remuneration (a lump sum and a proportional remuneration based on the revenues from the invention) unless the contract executed with the universities provides otherwise.

Rights to Future Improvements. There is no specific restriction to the granting of rights by universities on future inventions. However, please note that pursuant to applicable author’s rights provisions, the assignment of right on future works is prohibited.

Publication. There is no specific regulation with this respect under French law.

Local Manufacture. There is no such obligation under French law.

Indemnification. There is no specific regulation restricting the possibility for universities to retain or share liability for some issues or to indemnify licensees from liabilities. General tort and contract rules apply to IP rights assignments from universities.

Germany

Applicable Laws. There is no specific German act regulating IP created by university staff. Instead, general IP laws apply. In addition there is a Federal Employee Invention Act containing specific rules for the reimbursement of employees, including university staff.

IP Ownership. If university employees make inventions in the technical field during or in connection with their employment relationships, the Employee Invention Act requires the employee to promptly notify the employer, unless in their academic freedom they choose not to publish the invention. Following a notification the employer is entitled to claim ownership over the invention. If ownership vests in the employer, the relevant university staff must be compensated with 30% of the gross receipts from the exploitation of the invention. In addition, the employees retain the right to be named in the patent as inventor and are granted a nonexclusive right to use the invention for their research and teaching.

The mechanisms described above apply to any dependent university staff member (Beschäftigte) including professors, researchers, laboratory staff, and PhD-candidates, as well as personnel employed on a temporary basis or on similar terms. However, visiting scholars, students, external PhD candidates, or freelance collaborators do not fall under this scheme. Most of the rights are inalienable and cannot be limited to the detriment of the university staff in advance.

Copyright. Generally the Employee Invention Act does not apply to copyrightable works (software, images, technical drawings, scientific publications etc.). The creators of such works automatically become the (co-) owners of the copyright in such works simply by way of creating the work. The copyright itself (Urheberrecht) cannot be transferred. Consequently, the original creator is always considered the author and owner of the copyright even if the work was created during or in close connection with an employment relationship or on the basis of work made-for-hire. As a consequence, a complete buy-out of the copyright is not possible as the moral aspects of the copyright (Urheberpersönlichkeitsrechte) always remain with the author.

University Joint Ventures. Usually, cooperations between commercial undertakings and public universities or research institutes are structured either as commissioned R&D projects (co-) funded by the commercial undertaking or in the form of deeper cooperations, which may include consortiums or even jointly owned companies. Many German universities and research institutes did not until the turn of the millennium systematically protect and exploit their IP. Lately, however, we see a trend towards strict and formal requirements set up by these institutes; the reason for this being their increased need for alternative funding on the one hand and the justification of their spending of public funds on the other hand.

Sweden

Licensing and other technology transfer arrangements with Swedish universities are not regulated by any particular legislation.

According to the Act on the Right to Employee Inventions (1949:345) employers generally own the rights to inventions that their employees create at work. However, teachers at universities, colleges or other education institutions are exempted from the Act and therefore own the rights to their own inventions, even when the inventions are created during work hours. The so called “teacher exemption” applies to e.g. teachers, researchers and PhDs. The teachers/researchers are free to transfer their rights by entering into a transfer or license agreement with a party of their choice. It could, for example, be the university where they work, a development company or a venture capitalist.

As universities are part of the public sector, they are subject to constitutional rules on public access to information. Access to public information can only be restricted by law, which means that a university cannot enter into a confidentiality agreement that goes beyond the secrecy prescribed by law. According to the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400) secrecy applies to information regarding a private party’s inventions or research that has been developed in collaboration with a university, if it must be assumed that the private party entered into the collaboration on the condition that such information would not be disclosed. The secrecy cannot be upheld for more than ten years.

When considering co-operating with a university, the teacher exemption must be kept in mind. If the university is the contracting party in the collaboration, one must make sure that it has entered into agreements with the relevant teachers, researchers and PhD students which deal with the teacher exemption and vests all results with the university. An alternative approach would be to enter into separate agreements with each researcher directly, to regulate the right to results and inventions generated in the collaboration.

United Kingdom

In recent years, the commercialisation of university research in the UK’s academic institutions has increased significantly. This trend can be attributed to government initiatives in the early 2000s that encouraged collaborations between businesses and universities and an accompanying decrease in the availability of public funding. As a result, many universities now have their own dedicated technology transfer offices (TTO) to identify and facilitate partnerships between the university and potential investors.

There are no specific laws that regulate UK university licensing. Parties to such transactions are therefore free to negotiate the agreements to commercialise the university’s work, covering important issues such as intellectual property (IP) ownership/licensing, revenue sharing and the allocation of risks. These key issues are discussed in more detail below.

IP Ownership. To commercialise its research, it is common for a UK university to establish a new “spin out” company, and either transfer or license the relevant IP to the spin out. The other route is for the university to transfer or license IP directly to a third party company that will then seek to exploit the university’s work. The most appropriate structure will depend in each case on a range of commercial factors (e.g., development stage, nature of the investment, degree of control, proposed market, etc), which affect both the university and the commercial partner.

A university will generally make it a term of its employment contracts that all IP in any research undertaken by its employees will be owned by the university. When establishing a new spin out company, the most usual approach is for the university to continue to own or control the key IP that forms the core of the company. The university will use its TTO to secure funding for research, identify opportunities and assist in the transfer of the technology. Once an investor has been selected, the parties will enter into a series of agreements, including a technology transfer agreement, to establish the different roles and how any potential revenue will be shared.

Most universities will have their own policy towards IP ownership. An outright assignment of IP is generally preferable to investors, as it provides greater certainty and control. However, the university will usually resist such a transfer and seek to negotiate a licence instead (unless it is merely performing limited contract services). A licence gives the university more control and the ability to participate in any successful commercialisation through the payment of royalties.

A compromise sometimes reached is that a licence includes an assignment trigger or option. For instance, a trigger or option could be exercised once a specified amount of royalties have been earned or when the technology reaches a certain development milestone.

Rights to Future Improvements. UK universities are not prevented from assigning or licensing future IP in an invention or improvements in licensed technology. It is left to the parties to determine whether the technology transfer from the university will cover only the current IP or whether improvements and developments will also be included.

A university may want to limit the technology transfer agreement to current IP in order to exploit further commercial opportunities in any future IP, but a commercial partner is likely to want to secure the benefit of any improvements based upon the research it has funded.

Publication. The university will usually be granted rights to continue to use the IP that is subject to the transfer for non-commercial research and teaching. The university will also be keen to ensure that its academics can publish the results of their research. The commercial partner will want to place restrictions on publication though, so that it is given sufficient prior notice of any intended publication and rights to delay if publication will threaten the protection of IP, e.g., where the company is applying for patent protection.

Manufacture. There are no requirements for products derived from university research to be manufactured in the UK.

Indemnification/warranties. The commercial arrangements will also allocate risks between the parties. The university may be asked to provide some warranties, for example, that it owns all rights in the relevant IP and that it is not aware of any third party IP infringements, but it is likely to resist full warranties and indemnities. In any event, the agreements will usually include appropriate limitations of liability (e.g., by reference to revenue shares).

United States

Licensing and other technology transfer arrangements with US universities are regulated by several laws, notably the Bayh-Dole Act and tax laws. These laws impose several requirements that cannot be negotiated by the universities and must be accepted by anyone entering into a license or other tech transfer agreement with a university. Among the provisions that are most important for potential licensees are:

IP Ownership. Universities must retain ownership of all patents and other intellectual property arising out of any research that is funded to any extent by the US Government. Consequently, universities may not assign patents to an industrial partner. Universities may, however, grant exclusive licenses, subject to certain reservations. Most universities will want to reserve a right to use the licensed technology for its own academic research purposes. Extending this reserved right to inter-institutional arrangements or allowing sponsored research arrangements with commercial partners are issues open for negotiation. Universities must, however, reserve rights to allow the US Government to practice the licensed technology for governmental purposes and to exercise so called “march-in” rights, which allow the US

Government to force a licensee to license third parties so that the invention may be exploited. It may be useful to remember that these restrictions do not usually apply to arrangements under which a university is performing services for a third party. Some universities are willing to perform limited services as a contractor and then allow the industrial partner to own the IP resulting from its funded services. Examples include clinical trial agreements and so called “academic research service contracts.” Most university policies require all professors to assign their rights all inventions to the university. Graduate students may not be subject to this policy so industrial partners should take steps to assure that all IP is properly assigned.

Rights to Future Improvements. Tax laws restrict universities from granting present licenses under patents and other IP covering inventions that may arise in the future, including results of sponsored research or improvements to other licensed technology. Universities may grant such rights only when the future IP is identified and its value can be assessed. However, industrial partners may secure some preferential rights in the form of time-limited options or other rights to negotiate to obtain these rights, including “most favored nation” status.

Publication. Universities will not negotiate their right to publish the results of their research. The only limitations universities will accept are delays for 60-90 days to permit the filing of patents to protect patentable inventions and to assure that none of the partner’s confidential information is disclosed.

Local Manufacture. The Bayh-Dole Act requires that all products sold in the United States that result from government funded research must be manufactured substantially in the US. All license agreements with US universities will include this obligation. Waivers may be obtained on a case-by-case basis and the license agreement should contain provisions requiring the university to cooperate with the industrial partner in obtaining a waiver from the relevant governmental agency.

Indemnification. Most license agreements allocate risks between the parties so that the licensor is required to retain or share liability for some issues. Many universities, however, refuse or are even prohibited by law from indemnifying licensees from liabilities.

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