Principles for the Protection of Intellectual Property (IP)
Thanks to its technology transfer, Empa makes a significant contribution towards Switzerland as a strong, sustainable commercial and research hub. It achieves this by offering the research results generated at Empa to industrial partners for commercial usage, guaranteeing Empa’s long-term research and publication freedom as a public institution, and striving for an overall economic benefit as large as possible.
For research results generated within the scope of a joint project with Empa, the following principles apply:
Use of project results by the industrial partner
- Non-exclusive right of use in the partner’s field of application
- Option to negotiate an exclusive right of use in a specified field of application
Ownership of project results
- Project results owned by the generating party
- Co-ownership for jointly generated project results
Protection of project results
- Industrial partner may take the lead in filing jointly owned results for protection, supported by Empa
Fair compensation
- For an exclusive right of use by the industrial partner
- For an commercial right of use of Empa’s pre-existing intellectual property
Publications
- Right of Empa to publish project results while respecting confidentiality obligations
- Delay of publication if required for a patent application
Freedom to operate
- Right of the project partners to use unprotected project results independently of one another
- Right the project partners to use all protected project results for research and teaching purposes
- “Freedom to operate” for future collaborations
In individual cases, the project partners may agree on deviations from these principles, taking into account the mutual interests and specific circumstances.
