Rights options and licence

As a main rule, cooperation agreements establish that the party who has generated foreground knowledge also owns it. DTU may sell its foreground knowledge or grant licence it, if that foreground knowledge can be protected by rules on copyright, utility models and patents. Read more about commercialization. 

DTU usually grants companies that participate in a research collaboration the opportunity to purchase the rights from the project needed to commercialize DTU's foreground knowledge. This is done by granting a right of first refusal or some other rights option:

• Right of first refusal (sometimes called a rights option) means that DTU must make an offer to purchase or licence relevant foreground knowledge to the company, who has such right, before making an offer to a third party. However, the right of first refusal is not an obligation to sell or licence foreground knowledge, but it is the policy of DTU to do so.
• Option to purchase (sometimes called a rights option) means the company, who has such right, is entitled to purchase foreground knowledge (even if DTU does not wish to sell it).
• Licensing is not a sale or transfer of the ownership of foreground knowledge, but rather an authorization to exploit foreground knowledge. The terms are laid down in detail in an agreement regulating the price, exclusivity/non-exclusivity, field of use etc. Licensing is mostly used when DTU gives others access to exploit software generated by DTU, but can also be used in case of patents.

When DTU sells foreground knowledge or grants licence it must be on commercial terms, since DTU may not favour some companies at the expense of others. Even though companies have participated in a research cooperation, they must still pay a price equivalent to the one that other companies would also be willing to pay. That is what is meant by sale on commercial terms. The terms for sale or licensing of foreground knowledge shall be negotiated in collaboration with J&TT and the department.