Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) (e.g. copyright, patents, etc) affect the way both you and others can use your research outputs.
Failure to clarify rights at the start of the research process can lead to unexpected limitations to:
- your research,
- its dissemination,
- future related research projects, and
- associated profit or credit.
It can also cause you legal trouble.
The full University Intellectual Property Rights Regulations (Chapter XIII of the University’s Statutes and Ordinances) are available online, and this Guidance on the Regulations Concerning Intellectual Property Rights provides additional clarity on key subjects. For a place to start though, you may want to consult Cambridge Guidance Note on IP Policy in Practice: how it works, who to approach and when. Cambridge Enterprise also provides information on IPR.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Are research data or data derivatives protected by copyright law?
Copyright law sometimes protects data and other research products (provided that you share them with the proper copyright statement or end-user agreement), but it depends on the nature of your data or files.
The University Legal Services Office has produced a Copyright Compliance page, which provides contacts for who to consult on copyright questions in various situations (e.g. research grants and funding, comercialisation and intellectual property, etc).
Andrew Charlesworth (Centre for IT & Law, University of Bristol) gave a presentation that addressed some of these issues in a 2011 seminar hosted by CRASSH and the Incremental project:
[click to view]
'Intellectual Property Rights and Research Data - Focus on copyright' [32 mins 6 secs]. (PowerPoint slides).
He also participated in a short interview on the same subject:
-
[click to view]
[2 mins 34 secs].
[ back to top ] - What are my intellectual property rights with regard to research data at University of Cambridge?
This depends on whether you are a student, post-doc, PI/project director, your relationship with the university, your role on the project, and your agreements with other parties (funders, study participants, corporate partners, etc).
This guidance note, released by the Research Policy Committee in June 2010, will help walk you through the process: Guidance note from the Research Office and Cambridge Enterprise IP Policy in practice – how it works, who to approach and when?
Richard Jennings (Cambridge Enterprise) explained how data ownership works at Cambridge (particularly with regard to commercialisation) in a presentation for a 2011 seminar hosted by CRASSH and the Incremental project:
[click to view]
'Intellectual property rights and the University of Cambridge -- Focus on patents and commercialisation' [22 mins 24 secs]. (PowerPoint slides).
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Can I use materials that I find online?
It depends on how those materials are licensed. IPR is usually in play, even if you don't see a "©" or 'all rights reserved' notice. When in doubt, contact the University Copyright Officer (contact information in FAQ below) for advice, or ask the website administrator or publisher who distributed the content for permission directly.
The Web2Rights has produced a useful IPR & Legal Issues Toolkit for the web, including a FAQ for IPR and a brief animated video primer.
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How can I make it easier for others to re-use the materials that I produce?
One relatively simple way to make it easier for others to re-use tools, data, or other content that you produce is to add a Creative Commons license.
For example ‘By-Attribution, Non-Commercial’ is a common Creative Commons license – when you mark your file, image, or information with this, it means that anyone can use your information in any way they like, so long as they attribute it to you and don’t use it for commercial purposes. Creative Commons licenses are often used for materials released online, but you can also include these in printed materials if you don't have a publisher who owns the rights. For additional information and Creative Commons license options, visit the www.creativecommons.org.
To license something with a Creative Commons license, you don't need to file any paperwork -- just publish (in print or on the web) your materials along with a notification that you are using a particular license.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Creative Commons licenses are 'irrevocable' so don't add a Creative Commons license unless you are sure that (1) you have the right to publish this information, and (2) you won't want to re-voke it later on for any reason.
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Who can help me with IPR questions?
For general questions on copyright/IPR, contact the University Copyright Officer at the Legal Services Office:
phone: 01223 (7)66842
e-mail: copyright@admin.cam.ac.uk
For questions touching on commercialisation, contact Cambridge Enterprise:
phone: 01223 (7)60339
e-mail: enquiries@enterprise.cam.ac.uk
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What rights do other people have to request my work - i.e. Freedom of Information Act (FOI)?
The Freedom of Information Act of 2000 (FOIA) gives all members of the public the right to request any information produced with public money, but there are some exemptions.
For information about FOI at Cambridge, see the FOI Page on this website.
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Further Reading
Intellectual Property Right Overview by JISC Legal.
Web2Rights IPR & Legal Issues Toolkit. Information on intellectually property rights pertaining to Web 2.0 internet resources.
Alex Ball has created a presentation for the Digital Curation Centre/University of Bath on Derestricting Datasets: How to License Research Data
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- Related Links
- Freedom of Information (FOI)
- Copyright Compliance page (Legal Services)
- Cambridge Enterprise
- IPR Overview (JISC Legal)
- Web2Rights IPR & Legal Issues Toolkit
- Downloads
- IPR checklist
- Cambridge Guidance Note on IP Policy in Practice: how it works, who to approach and when
- Full Cambridge IPR Regulations
- Video
- Andrew Charlesworth: IPR Overview - Focus on copyright (presentation)
- Richard Jennings: IPR and Cambridge -- Focus on patents and commercialisation (presentation)
- Good Practice in Rights Clearance and Licensing (Naomi Korn)