• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Science for Peace - Guidelines for the Preparation of Project Plans
Annex 8 (page 1)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
A. PRINCIPLES
• The primary goal of Science for Peace (SfP) is to enhance the communication, co-operation and
understanding between NATO and partner or Mediterranean Dialogue countries while contributing
to the improvement of security issues.
• In case Intellectual Property (IP) will be obtained during the project, the expectation is to achieve a
reasonable share of benefits among the Co-Directors and participants in SfP projects (further
referred to as “Parties”), taking into account their respective contributions and their initial know-
how.
• The NATO Expert Panel will determine whether or not individual projects meet the objectives of
SfP. The Expert Panel will make this determination based on a Project Plan that, in the case that
Intellectual Property will be obtained during the course of the Project, must include a draft
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) agreement based on the Principles and Guidelines provided by
NATO.
• Taking into account recommendations by the Expert Panel on the draft IPR agreement, a final IPR
Agreement shall be prepared and signed by all Parties. Funding of the Project will only be
provided after the IPR agreement is concluded.
• The IPR agreement may be re-evaluated during the project due to unforeseen circumstances, on
the request of any of the Parties, to ensure that the benefit-sharing terms remain reasonable to all
Parties. If necessary, this process may be mediated by NATO.
B. SAMPLE CONTENT OF IPR AGREEMENT AMONG PARTIES
INTRODUCTION
1. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
1.1. Definitions
1.2. Ownership and Access Rights
2. EXPLOITATION
2.1. Foreground Intellectual Property
2.2. Background Intellectual Property
3. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROSECUTION AND ENFORCEMENT
4. INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
5. CONFIDENTIALITY
6. BREACH OF AGREEMENT
7. MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION
8. LAW
9. IPR COMMITTEE
10. GENERAL
 Science for Peace - Guidelines for the Preparation of Project Plans
Annex 8 (page 2)
EXAMPLE OF AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AGREEMENT
PROJECT: (Project Title)
SfP PROJECT NUMBER: (Project number)
THIS AGREEMENT is made the day of
BETWEEN
A “(Name, Address and Nationality of the Institutions or Companies)”
B “…”
…
And
M “…”
N “…”
…
“A” hereinafter to be called ___, “B” hereinafter to be called ___, [....etc.] and collectively to be called the
“Parties” for the purpose of the Agreement only. Any statutory or other implication from the use of the term
“Party” is hereby expressly excluded.
WHEREAS
(a) The Parties have expertise in the field _________ and wish to undertake joint research and
exploitation of results in this field.
(b) This project will benefit from financial support through NATO Science for Peace.
(c) NATO wishes the results of the research undertaken to be applied to the benefit of the Parties, and
waives any claim to ownership of Intellectual Property Rights deriving from such research as well as
any income resulting from the exploitation of said Intellectual Property Rights.
IT IS AGREED as follows:
1. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
1.1 Definitions
The following definitions apply in this Agreement:
“Intellectual Property” includes inventions (whether patentable or not), patents, patent applications,
registered designs and applications thereof, copyright material including computer software,
technical information and know-how.
“Foreground Intellectual Property” includes Intellectual Property arising from the research and
development undertaken within this project after the date of signature of this agreement whether
generated by one Party or two or more Parties jointly.
“Background Intellectual Property” includes Intellectual Property deemed to be relevant to the
project and already owned by the Parties on the date of signature of this agreement.
“Project Completion Date” shall mean the date of completion of the research and development
activities under this project as defined and determined by the NATO Science for Peace (SfP)
Programme Office.
The “IPR Committee” is a group comprising a representative from each of the Parties.
 Science for Peace - Guidelines for the Preparation of Project Plans
Annex 8 (page 3)
1.2 Ownership and Access Rights
1.2.1. Foreground Intellectual Property shall be owned
Option A
Jointly by all the Parties regardless of who generated the Intellectual Property or engaged
or employed the person or persons who made or conceived the Intellectual Property.
Or
Option B
(a) Solely by the Party who generated the Intellectual Property or engaged or
employed the person or persons who made or conceived the Intellectual
Property, and,
(b) Jointly by the Parties who generated the Intellectual Property or engaged or
employed the person or persons who made or conceived the Intellectual
Property.
1.2.2. Background Intellectual Property shall be made freely available to all the Parties solely for
the purpose and for the duration of the research and development activities of the project.
1.2.3 Participation in this project shall not itself affect any rights of any Party to Foreground
Intellectual Property or Background Intellectual Property except as specifically mentioned
herein.
2. EXPLOITATION
2.1 Foreground Intellectual Property
Option A in accordance with 1.2.1
All Parties shall have free use of all Foreground Intellectual Property to exploit the results by
themselves.
Each Party can grant sub-licences, subject to prior approval by the IPR Committee.
Option B in accordance with 1.2.1
The Party or Parties shall, on request, grant the other(s) a license on fair and reasonable terms, to
use any Foreground Intellectual Property that is required for the exploitation of the results.
2.2 Background Intellectual Property
2.2.1 Each Party shall, on request, grant the other(s) a license on fair and reasonable terms, to
use any Background Intellectual Property that is required for the exploitation of the
Foreground Intellectual Property.
2.2.2 Each Party can grant sub-licences, subject to prior approval by the IPR Committee.
2.3 In the event that neither Party wishes to exploit the Foreground Intellectual Property, they shall not
refuse to grant licences to requesting 3rd parties on fair and reasonable terms. Licensing to non-
EAPC countries shall be subject to NATO approval.
2.4 In the event that none of the Parties provides proof or evidence of diligent efforts to exploit the
Foreground Intellectual Property to the NATO Programme Office within a period of 3 years after the
Project Completion Date, they shall not refuse to grant licences to requesting 3rd parties on fair and
reasonable terms. Licensing to non-EAPC countries shall be subject to NATO approval.
 Science for Peace - Guidelines for the Preparation of Project Plans
Annex 8 (page 4)
3. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROSECUTION AND ENFORCEMENT
3.1 The Parties shall on a regular basis report any information relevant to Intellectual Property to the
IPR Committee. Decisions on the protection, filing and prosecution of Foreground Intellectual
Property shall be taken by the IPR Committee.
3.2 Any Party shall immediately inform the other Party(ies) and the IPR Committee of any potential
infringement of the Foreground Intellectual Property of which it becomes aware. The owner(s) of
the Foreground Intellectual Property shall decide on any enforcement action and inform the IPR
Committee accordingly.
3.3 In principle, each Party shall meet the costs of protecting its own Intellectual Property, its
prosecution and enforcement. The cost sharing of joint Intellectual Property prosecution and
enforcement shall be agreed by the Parties involved.
4. INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Any Party shall immediately inform the other Party(ies) and the IPR Committee of any evidence of
infringement of a Third party Intellectual Property. The IPR Committee shall inform the SfP
Programme Office immediately when evidence of the potential infringement of Third party
Intellectual Property is discovered. The IPR Committee will propose to the SfP Programme Office
potential solutions in order to try to avoid conflict with such third party.
5. CONFIDENTIALITY
5.1 Each Party undertakes to keep confidential and shall not use except for the purposes of this
Agreement or permitted by this Agreement:
(a) All information concerning the project;
(b) All information concerning the project it shall have obtained from any other Party(ies);
(c) All information concerning the business affairs of any other Party;
(d) The Foreground Intellectual Property of the research and development, except as
required by applicable Intellectual Property prosecution procedures.
5.2 The foregoing restrictions shall not apply to information:
(a) Accessible to the public at the time of disclosure, or which subsequently becomes accessible
through no fault of the recipient;
(b) In the possession of the recipient at the time of disclosure, or is received by the recipient from
a third party who is not under any obligation to keep such information confidential;
(c) Which must be provided to or required for disclosure by national or NATO authorities.
5.3 Divulgation (including publication) of Foreground Intellectual Property shall only be undertaken with
the agreement of the IPR Committee. This agreement shall not be unreasonably withheld. Parties
will have a period of three months to present their objection to divulgation. Thereafter, in the
absence of any objection the Parties wishing to divulge may proceed.
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Annex 8 (page 5)
6. BREACH OF AGREEMENT
6.1 If one Party breaches this Agreement and the breach is not cured within 30 days of notice of the
breach from the non breaching Party(ies), the non breaching Party(ies) may terminate the rights of
the breaching Party under this Agreement.
6.2 Upon termination pursuant to 6.1:
(a) The non-breaching Party(ies) shall be free to exploit the Foreground Intellectual Property; and,
(b) Right(s) to exploit the Background Intellectual Property of the breaching Party will be granted
by the breaching Party to the non-breaching Party(ies) according to 2.2.1, taking into
consideration prior commitments.
7. MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION
7.1. Any of the Parties may initiate a mediation to assist them in resolving any issue arising from this
Agreement which has not been resolved by the IPR Committee; this mediation shall be done by a
mediator nominated by the SfP Programme Office.
7.2. If the mediation is not successful in resolving the issue, any Party may initiate an arbitration
procedure as follows:
(WIPO, ICC, or other arbitration procedures to be agreed and detailed by the Parties)
7.3. The decision resulting from the arbitration procedure shall be binding upon the Parties.
8. LAW
This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of ___ (only one country possible!).
9. IPR COMMITTEE
9.1 All decisions of the IPR Committee shall be unanimous. In case of non-unanimity, the mediation
procedure of Article 7.1 may be initiated by any of the Parties.
9.2 The IPR Committee has the competence to decide upon the strategy regarding the protection of
Foreground Intellectual Property, including:
(a) Decisions upon the divulgation (including publication) of any information resulting from the
project;
(b) Decisions upon actions to be taken, including settlements, in the event of infringement of the
Foreground Intellectual Property;
(c) Decisions upon actions to be taken, including settlements, in the event of infringement of third
party rights;
(d) Monitoring and decisions with respect to all Intellectual Property aspects of the project.
9.3 The IPR Committee shall report on Intellectual Property issues to the SfP Programme Office every
six months.
9.4. The IPR Committee shall remain in existence for a period of 5 years after the Project Completion
Date.
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Annex 8 (page 6)
10. GENERAL
10.1 Each Party undertakes to the others to take all steps that are necessary to ensure compliance with
the provisions of this Agreement by its employees, agents and researchers.
10.2 The terms of Article 2, Article 3, Article 5 and Article 9 will survive after the Project Completion Date
or the withdrawal of any Party(ies), except upon agreement by all Parties.
10.3 The notices referred to in this Agreement shall be considered to be effective only if communicated in
writing by registered mail, or an equivalent system.
Signatures (with date) of the NPD, the PPD and all other Project-Co-Directors as well as the head of their
institutions (or the person responsible for IPR matters) and the end-user(s) involved in the project.
Name and position: Signature: date:
NPD
Head of institution
PPD
Head of institution
Other Co-Directors
And the heads of their institutions
.
.
.
End-user 1 (Director)
End-user 2 (Director)
.
.
.