Data protection and IP
Data Protection
Various laws, in particular the Federal Act on Data Protection (DSG), regulate the handling of personal data. Researchers at ETH Zurich must comply with this when collecting, storing, using or modifying such data. Where personal data is used, the project must be designed in such a way that data protection is guaranteed. The ETH Zurich Ethics Committee must be consulted before the start of a project in which personal data is used.
Pre-existing intellectual property rights
Projects often build on previous work. It should be clarified and discussed with the contractual partner whether the contractual partner will be dependent on pre-existing intellectual property rights (e.g. patent rights or software) of ETH Zurich for the commercial use of the project results, and whether and under what conditions (possibly subject to a fee) these can be made available to it. Corresponding regulations should be laid down in the project agreement.
As far as known, the contracting partner should also be informed if intellectual property from other ETH Zurich research groups or from third parties is required by the contracting partner for the commercialisation of the project results.
Use of commercial software
Certain software providers grant their customers beneficial conditions when the software is used for academic research. The use of such software in a project of ETH Zurich with a non-academic contractual partner may not be permitted. If this software is to be used in such a project, an appropriate license may have to be paid for it. For questions and licenses, please contact the ITS Service Desk.
Incompatible licenses of open source software
The rights to use open source software are regulated in the respective license conditions under which they are made available to the public. There are many different license models. Some allow the user to act almost unrestrictedly, others set very restrictive guidelines as to what may be done. It is very important to clarify in advance whether the use of a software provided under an open source license is possible and useful in a project. It must be avoided that the services contractually guaranteed to a contractual partner of ETH Zurich cannot be fulfilled because open source software used in the project does not permit the use of the project results in the intended manner.
Rights to project inventions and project software
A precondition for signing a project contract is an agreement between ETH and the contracting partner regarding the use of the results of the planned project. The needs of the partner and those of ETH must be reconciled. At a minimum, ETH wants to use all results for its further research and to be able to use them commercially or license them to another party outside the scope in which the partner itself will commercialize them. There are usually two possibilities: The partner gets either non-exclusive or exclusive usage rights in the fields of application that are important to him. In the case of exclusive rights, project patents can be assigned to the partner. However, under certain circumstances the ETH research group may want to keep all its options with regard to certain applications of a technology and will therefore grant to the contracting partner only non-exclusive rights of use. If you have any questions, please contact The Research Contract Group to discuss suitable solutions.
ETH Zurich distinguishes between general project results such as results from measurements, general findings, know-how, non-patented inventions, project patent rights and project software. If data generated in the project is important, it is treated separately, otherwise it is included in the general results. Trademarks, designs and topographies that are part of the project results are treated in the same way as project patent rights.
ETH Zurich uses the following standard models "Each party bears its own costs", "Non-exclusive use" and "Exclusive use".
Each party bears its own cost
- Each party protects its own project results; in the case of joint results, the parties agree in advance on protection.
- Rights of use to ETH Zurich project results beyond the implementation of the project need to be negotiated.
Non-exclusive use
The contracting partner receives in its clearly defined field of application.
- A non-exclusive right to use all project results, including project patent rights.
- A right of negotiation for exclusive rights to ETH Zurich project patent rights financed by the partner and - where appropriate - also to software developed in the project.
The contracting partner pays to ETH Zurich the direct costs of the project, plus a surcharge of 10%.
Exclusive use
The contracting partner receives in its clearly defined field of application:
- A non-exclusive right to use all project results, including project patent rights.
- In addition, the contracting partner has the right to own project patents filed by the partner without any additional compensation to ETH Zurich. In return, the contracting partner grants to ETH Zurich a free license outside the partner’s field of application for all purposes with the right to sublicense.
The contracting partner pays to ETH Zurich the direct costs of the project, plus a surcharge of 45%.
Intellectual property rights of students (non ETH employees)
Intellectual property rights (know-how, inventions, software, etc.), which are created by Bachelor or Master students alone, belong to these students. However, where students and supervisors contributed together, these intellectual property rights belong jointly to students and ETH Zurich.
If students are involved in a project in which ETH Zurich has entered into obligations towards a third party (e.g. a company), these students must assign their rights to the intellectual property from the project in writing to ETH Zurich so that ETH Zurich can meet its obligations towards the third party.
It is the responsibility of the respective professorship that appropriate written agreements are signed with the students early. The Research Contract Group will be happy to provide a corresponding assignment agreement.