Research-related contracts and intellectual property rights

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There are several occasions when you come into contact with agreements, for example when you receive research funding from an external funding body or participate in research collaborations with parties outside the University. Agreements are furthermore relevant when you publish your results, or turn your research into an innovation.

Short cuts to content on this page:

Who approves research-related agreements?
Types of agreement and who signs them
Review, negotiation and registration of agreements
Copyright and patents

Who approves research-related agreements?

It is important to understand who at the University is authorised to approve and sign different types of research agreement. This to ensure that your agreement will be valid.

The head of department: is to approve all research grant applications and participation in research projects. The head of department and the department’s finance officer can help you from case to case to determine who else that potentially need to sign off on an application or a participation.

The type of agreement and financial value: determine who is authorised to approve and sign research-related agreements (head of department, dean of faculty, or Lund University’s Vice-Chancellor). See more under the heading Types of agreements below.

Central management: is required for agreements on research funding within the EU’s framework programme Horizon Europe and by American public sector funding bodies. Read more about this under the theme Research funding and project management.

Agreements between the University and individual researchers – “Conditions for participating in projects”: become relevant when the University enters into an agreement in which there are conditions regarding the right to results, confidentiality and publishing that concern employed researchers. The agreement conveys access to results so that the University can fulfil its obligations in the project agreement.

Types of agreement and who signs them

A comprehensive description of how different types of agreements as well as financial value applies in the signing of agreements can be found in the appendix of the following Vice-Chancellor’s decision:

Lund University’s Rules on the Allocation of Decision-Making Powers and the Right to Sign Agreements at Lund University (STYR 2023/662) (PDF, 380 kB, new window)

Grant agreement: refers to funding not requiring any service in return. This means that the party giving the grant has not made any demands to receive goods or services or to enjoy special privileges in exchange for the funding.

Licencing agreement: refers to an agreement in which the University gives licensing rights/usage rights regarding software, for example.

Collaboration agreement: refers to a collaboration with one or more parties that is not fully funded and where there is a requirement for services in return (see below under Contract research agreement).

Contract research agreement: refers to a fully funded commission in which the commissioning party sets requirements for services in return (e.g. delayed publication, confidentiality, right to results).

Review, negotiation and registration of agreements

An agreement is to protect the interests of the University and its researchers and projects. It is therefore essential that the person responsible for the project familiarises themselves with the agreement and judge whether it can be accepted. The Legal Division can provide assistance through information, supporting material and templates, and offers help in the review and negotiation of agreements.

Registration of agreements: is always to be carried out as required by law if it concerns an agreement/contract with an external party, such as a research funding body. If you are responsible for the agreement/contract, you are also responsible for completion of registration. If registration of the agreement is to be undertaken by a department, the department’s registrar will assist you.

Copyright and patents

Patents and copyright are examples of intellectual property rights protection, i.e. protection that provides the holder of the rights with a fixed-term exclusive right to an asset.

General Recommendations on Lund University’s Right to Use Copyrighted Material (STYR 2015/542) (PDF, 43 kB, new window)

Copyright relating to publishing: refers to the exclusive right to determine how a literary work, such as a research article or a book, may be used. At the same time, certain limitations to the exclusive right must be accepted, so that others can refer to and cite the text.

A publishing house agreement/publishing agreement: is signed when your article is to be published by a publishing house. With this, the financial rights to the published work transfer exclusively to the publishing house. The publishing house then sells licences to those who wish to read your article. When you enter into such an agreement with a publishing house, the limitations permitted under the Copyright Act are eliminated.

Open access publishing: is offered to researchers at Lund University with a subsidy or without cost through various types of publishing house agreements.

A Creative Commons licence: clarifies for a reader of open access journals how they can reuse the published material.

Patents: refer to protection of an invention that entails a new solution to a technical problem. It is important at an early stage to get an understanding of the research results’ patentability. LU Innovation provides support throughout this process.

Guidelines for the management of intellectual property rights, etc. and general recommendations on Lund University’s right to use patents, designs and topographies (STYR 2019/908) (PDF 232 kB, new window)

Intellectual property rights of academic staff: entail that as a teaching staff member, you have an exclusive right to a patentable innovation produced in the course of your duties. It is your decision how the innovation is to be used, but if you use the innovation in the course of your duties, the University has the right to utilise it without additional remuneration beyond the regular salary. Teaching staff are covered regarding this aspect of intellectual property rights by law. For other members of staff, this only applies in the situations described in the University’s Guidance for the Management of Intellectual Property Rights etc. (see above).

Contact

Questions related to agreements
Legal division

Innovation och patent
LU Innovation

Related information

In Swedish: Creative Commons for researchers – kb.se

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