Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) has developed a series of Model Agreements and Guides to facilitate interactions between industry and the research base in Ireland. Following on from our previous work on collaborative research agreements, IP Pragmatics has now helped to develop a model Joint Ownership and Management Agreement (JOMA) and associated Practical Guide, which can be used to handle any intellectual.
In general, the National IP Protocol in Ireland recommends that joint ownership is best avoided as it involves complex management arrangements. However, in some limited situations, where there has been an inventive contribution from both parties, and there is a sound reason why none of the alternative access routes is suitable, and there is a clear economic and societal benefit to Ireland, then joint ownership may be agreed. The rules surrounding joint ownership are complicated, and vary significantly from country to country, and so a suitable JOMA is required to control how this jointly-owned IP is managed, paid for, and exploited, as well as to agree any benefit sharing arrangements.
The model agreement and associated practical guide have been developed with advice from an Expert Group of industry and academic representatives. They are available now for download from the KTI website at http://www.knowledgetransferireland.com/Model-Agreements/KTI-Practical-Guides and http://www.knowledgetransferireland.com/Model-Agreements/Catalogue-of-Model-Agreements respectively.
