Click here to view the second part of the round-table animation, starring I.D. Termin, Fina T'Odinga, Barbara Reed, Marc Atere and Eugene O'Toole.

For those who do not have a fast enough connection or with whom the Flash-drive doesn’t work, read the conversation here Key to the transparent implementation of institutional IP-policies is the employment contract. It must be made clear in the contract who the holder is of any IP produced by the employee; e.g. whether he can claim IP on inventions made in and outside working hours; whether he can claim influence on the commercialization decisions; whether he is entitled to (part of) the revenues, etc.

These contracts obviously have to be legal in the country where they are concluded – for example in some countries the sharing of revenue between the employer end employee is included in national regulations (and in some these are specific for public institutes).

Secondly, the contract has to specify some form of confidentiality if the institute intends to protect its inventions. The scientist must keep research data confidential to any party outside the institute, and potentially also to keep particular project data within the project team. The employee may also have to comply with publication policy of the institute, i.e. in many cases have permission to present research findings in conferences, publish ideas and data in journals and books, etc. Such permission can be made subject to pending decisions on protection of the ideas/inventions. Such rules are quite difficult for a scientist to abide, but essential if the institute is to effectively protect its inventions – and if it is to be a reliable partner of private and public parties that insist on protection of the findings of their joint projects. Apart from signing an employment contract, this means that confidentiality has to become part of the institutional culture! An effective way to implement institutional policies on IP is the development of IP-plans as part of any research proposal. IP-plans include a clear goal with regard to the role of IP in the use of the projected results of the project (how will the results lead to a product – who is the targeted user of the result - how shall the product reach the intended user). This analysis leads to the decision of whether, how and where the products of the project will be protected or how it will be avoided that others may obstruct the use of the results through protection.

Secondly and partly based on the first analysis, the plan includes a careful analysis of the technologies and materials used and rights associated with them (in the country where the research will take place, in the target countries, and possibly in the countries where the product will be exported to). This analysis needs particular skills of the scientist and/or support by a specialized office. These skills will be dealt with by a follow-up module of this course.

Example of an IP-plan LINK Bart, deze link krijg ik nog binnen. Komt later.
Read more on IP policies (an introduction to the US approach).
Read more on CIMMYT’s IP policies.