Discuss IP ownership early

As you will have learnt in the ‘Intellectual Property Principles’ module and the topic on IP ownership, creations and inventions may have a number of different people with different (and overlapping) ownership interests in the resulting product. This will especially be the case if you are working in a group, or if you have industry partners. 

Understanding who owns the IP and who has the rights to control the final product is critical to being able to commercialise and manage that product.

For every person that is involved in the development of your final product, at every stage of development, it is a good idea to have clear conversations with that person about their role and their ownership interests (if any) in the final product.

Legally, problems most commonly arise with collaborations because the group members have not had open and frank conversations about who owns what. You might assume that you are on the same page with your collaborators, but you won’t know for sure until you talk about it. Open discussions can prevent many misunderstandings and problems later on.

It is also a good idea to write down the points that you all agree on and the things that you have spoken about. A written record can be very useful later, when memories fade or if disagreements arise. These writings do not have to be particularly formal - any written (and dated!) record will help.