Ownership of Results

According to the funding terms, Results are to be owned by the party that has generated them. In case ownership can be claimed by a third party, e.g. an employee or consultant working for the party, the party is obligated to agree with this person in such way that the party can fulfil its obligations in relation to the Result in accordance with the funding terms.

To consider in regard to ownership of Results:Uppsala University applies the professor’s privilege, meaning that the researchers usually own their own results. However, this cannot be fully upheld in HE-projects. The department must secure that all involved researchers abstain their rights to Results according to the professor’s privilege to the extent necessary for the university to fulfil its obligations according to the funding terms.

In case several parties generate a Result jointly, the Result shall be jointly owned by these parties. The intention is that the joint owners should enter into a joint ownership agreement to regulate the terms for the joint ownership. Until this has been done, the default regime is that a joint owners may use the Result for further research and also to license for some commercial purposes. In case of the latter, the other co-owners are to be informed and compensated.

To consider in regard to joint ownership of Results:As a governmental authority Uppsala University has limited possibilities to operate commercial activities. To receive economic compensation from a co-owner of a Result is therefore problematic. The department needs to have a plan for how possible joint Results are to be handled. The plan could include transferring the interest in the joint Result to someone that is more suited as a co-owner to conclude joint ownership agreements or to receive compensation from other co-owners.