Multi Vaccine Development Program. Not For Profit Research Society

Intellectual Property Management

Management of Intellectual Property

Managing the intellectual property of partners requires skilful assessment and is of critical importance at MVDP. At times it involves complex partnership structure and the various factors in the partnership are uncertain. Thus, while entering into collaboration & facilitation partnership, MVDP carefully devices a strategy for managing any resulting/or existing intellectual property to protect the interest of partners in the collaboration.

MVDP understands the amount of hard work and man-hours investment needed to develop an intellectual property and is more interested in making a needed malaria vaccine available than in acquiring intellectual property for itself.

IP management under Collaboration Partnership Model

Under a collaboration partnership model, research partners will need to disclose and provide non-exclusive license to their background knowledge, technology and existing intellectual property to MVDP. Disclosing and sharing such information will be vital for the collaboration partnership. Here, research partners continue to be the sole owner of their respective background knowledge, technology and existing intellectual property. With this understanding, MVDP identifies second research partner (if need be) and commercial partner.

The intellectual property derived from a collaboration partnership model, resulting intellectual property, will be managed by MVDP ensuring co-ownership rights between the research partner (s) and commercial partner on a case-by-case basis. The collaboration agreements between various partners will describe each partner’s respective shares in resulting intellectual property. Relevant factors for determining the respective shares in ownership of any resulting intellectual property shall include:

  1. Ownership of the existing technology/intellectual property based on which such resulting intellectual property has been developed
  2. Ownership of any proprietary adjuvant(s)/ platform technology necessary to the Product Development Technology and resulting intellectual property
  3. Investments made by each partners towards performance of the program

The percentage share of co-ownership rights in any resulting intellectual property shall be decided as per above factors and/or mutual consent between partners & MVDP.

If research partner(s) choose not to file and/or maintain the patent application on inventions resulting under a collaboration partnership model then MVDP reserves the right to own such inventions/IPs. With the view of protecting the public sector’s investment in such programs, MVDP reserves such rights to intellectual property & technology that can be transferred to new partner(s) in case existing commercial partner(s) and/or research partners shelfs /or abandons the program. In such cases, MVDP secure residual rights which could be claimed corresponding to the any intellectual property and technology in the abandoned/or shelved program. This way, MVDP ensures the accessibility and utilization of knowledge developed during a partnership.

In case of Contract Organization agreements managed by MVDP, it will be ensured that any resulting intellectual property shall not be owned by Contract Organization. Instead, shall be owned by respective owner of the existing IP.

IP management under Facilitation Partnership Model

MVDP does not manage and own any resulting intellectual property that may be derived from the outsourcing assignments. However, specific contract agreements defining intellectual property management between outsourcing party and partners can be managed on a fee for service basis.