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Research Data Management: Intellectual Property Rights

Research Data Management (RDM) Library guide

Intellectual Property Rights

Ownership of intellectual property rights (IPR) to research data needs to be documented in the Data Management PlanThis applies to IPR arising from primary research and/or data derived from third-party sources. Intellectual property issues can then be dealt with more efficiently during the research project.

These should be documented in the following sections/questions of the BU Data Management Plan (DMP) template:

Data overview

  • Will you be using existing datasets owned by 3rd parties for your research?
  • Identify existing data to be used in your research, and specify any requirements for using the data. > Third-party data

Ethical and legal compliance

Data generated as part of research

Read BU’s Intellectual Property Policy (2020) for the policies and procedures applied to all intellectual property created during research activity by BU staff or students.

 

  Ownership of Intellectual Rights BU's Intellectual Rights Policy
Staff BU owns the intellectual property rights for research data generated by BU staff during their normal duties or as a result of a task specifically assigned by BU. Section 4.1 of BU's Intellectual Property Policy
Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) PGRs retain the intellectual property rights for research data generated as part of their studies, except in certain cases. Sections 7.1 and 7.2 of BU's Intellectual Property Policy
Collaborative projects Where research is being carried out in collaboration with other academic institutions or with commercial partners, ownership rights may be shared or apply separately to different datasets. It should be clear from the start who owns what, and how the data can be used and shared. Please consult Legal Services during project planning to ensure appropriate agreements are in place. Section 15 of BU's Intellectual Property Policy

 

 

Third-party data

The IPR for data derived from third-party sources will likely belong to third parties, not to the researcher using the data.

Researchers must adhere to any licencing restrictions related to the use of the data. Licensing terms will in many cases (for example, commercial or NHS data) prevent onward sharing of the data.

Licencing terms should be carefully reviewed (with the support of Legal Services) before committing BU to them. This is to ensure compatibility with BU's position as a university and charity.