Ipr And JISC Projects

IPR and Projects:What you need to know

Naomi KornJISC IPR Consultant

24th October 2008

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Some Key Facts• Most JISC Projects will involve:

– Developing new content and technology and/or– Deploying/ adapting pre-existing content and

technology

• You will be both users of stuff created by other people as well as generators of your own stuff

• You are likely to undertake JISC projects in collaboration

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The Bottom LineUSERS OF STUFF• There are likely to be a whole range of

content/technology/services that you will be using/accessing as part of your projects

GENERATORS OF STUFF• You will bring with you stuff that you have created

before your project (background IPR)• You will be generating project outputs (foreground

IPR)

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Your Commitments to JISC

• You will be subject to JISC’s terms and conditions of funding

• It is likely that whilst you own the IPR in any project outputs you will be obliged to ensure that:– Outputs are made freely available in perpetuity to

HE/FE• Content under Open Access• Software under Open Source

– You ensure that all rights are cleared– You grant a licence back to HEFCE to use outputs – You deposit outputs in JORUM

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IPR Brain Drain

• Intellectual Property Rights• Protect creations of the mind• Reward human innovation, inventions + creativity• Behave just like property……• Relate to analogue and digital stuff• Easier to infringe in an electronic environment• Comprise of automatic rights and monopoly rights

IPR Family…

www.web2rights.org.uk

Consists of rights granted automatically, and monopoly rights

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COPY – RIGHT

Exclusive right offered to creator of: - Original works (that are not copies)

- Works showing some kind of skill/effort- Created by a qualifying person- Qualifying country- Given automatically – no credit needed- Regardless of artistic merit!

Copyright Overview

Copyright does not exist in ideas

Copyright only protects the material expression of an idea!

Criteria for Copyright Protection

What works are protected by copyright?

ArtisticFilms

Literary

Broadcasts

Musical

TypographicDramatic

Sound recordings

Extent of Copyright Protection

Layers of rights

Origins of Content

• Staff • Students• Contractors• Freelancers• Web• Other sources• Pre-licensed (e.g. Creative Commons)• Software

– Open Source– Proprietary

• Likelihood that you will be generating/engaging with multi-media

• Remember that just because you own a work etc, does not mean that you own the rights

• Images, text, music, film, sound recordings, ethesis etc• This means:

– Often more than one type of copyright– Other types of IP– Other legal issues, (Data Protection; obscenity etc etc)– More than one rights holder– Complexity in clearing rights– Cost and time implications– Applicability of fair dealing provisions (e.g. thesis and ethesis)

Layers of Rights: Layers of Issues

A Mosaic of Rights

• Projects are likely to comprise of mosaic of rights• Some owned by you• Some owned by project partners• Some owned by third parties (known)• Some owned by third parties (unknown)

Role of Licences

• Licences are tools to facilitate IP transactions• i.e. get permissions

• Many different types of licences (transactional, open, blanket etc)

• Licences in (permissions granted from third party)• Licences out (permissions granted to third party)• Compatibility of licences in and licences out• Contract law overrides copyright law!

Role of licences II….

www.web2rights.org.uk04/12/23 15

Role of Consortium Agreements

• Mechanism to outline roles, rights and responsibilities of project partners

• Background and Foreground IPR• Who owns what rights?• Who has permission to use what rights• Clearance obligations for third party rights

• Other key issues• Need to be signed as early as possible• Often take a while to be resolved• Model Consortium Agreement Available

Getting Started Answers to the questions below will form the basis from which you could go onto map copyright and the permissions that you need on to your activities.

The Technology• Am I developing a new technology?• Am I developing an existing technology?• Am I deploying an existing technology?

The Content• Which team members are involved in developing content (and technologies)• Am I using content generated by a third party not a member of the team?

Technology and Content• How do I want my technology and content to be made available to users

(over the short and longer term)?• What are my obligations to JISC?• What are my obligations to my project partners (i.e. Consortium Agreement)• What are my obligations to my institution (i.e. via IP Policy)?

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Want to Find Out More?

• JISC Legal www.jisclegal.ac.uk• OSS Watch www.oss-watch.ac.uk• TASI www.tasi.ac.uk• Web2Rights www.web2rights.org.uk

Thank You

Naomi Kornwww.naomikorn.com