License software to third parties
On these pages you will find all relevant information on licensing software to third parties as well as regulations, best practices and other relevant information on software.
The information on licensing software to third parties applies regardless of whether the third party is, for example, an industry, an ETH Zurich Spin-off, a startup or an other research institution.
These pages are continuously updated and new information is added to reflect the latest regulations and practices at ETH Zurich. So please check these pages from time to time for the latest information on software.
General Information
Software is copyright protected as soon as the code is written (please see here).
The "individual character" requirement for a work under the copyright law is minimal for program code, such that only in a very small number of cases the courts have ruled computer programs insufficiently original to be eligible for copyright protection.
Therefore, any computer program is in principle copyright protected and necessarily requires a license for distribution to third parties, regardless of whether the computer program is small or large. Thus, not only software packages, but also e.g. small scripts that you have created for scientific publications, and that you may want to publish together with a scientific publication, requires a license when distributed.
According to the ETH Zurich Exploitation Guidelines (Download RSETHZ 440.4 (PDF, 267 KB)), except for open source licenses, all licenses for software that is distributed by ETH Zurich to a third party, must be examined/drafted by us, and approved and signed by the Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations. The responsible professor must acknowledge and sign the license agreement as well. Approval from Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations is obtained by us.
In addition, according to these Guidelines, except for software distributed under an open source license, all software that is provided to a third party, with or without a license fee, must be reported to us completing the software disclosure form (please see here). So, the distribution of software code to third parties (universities, research institutes, industry, etc.) or the distribution through download portals (Google Play Store, Apple Store, etc.) must be reported to us and the required license must be prepared and approved by us.
Important!
- Please contact first the Research Contracts Group for advises in case the software has been generated within a research collaboration with a third party and you want to hand over the software to the research collaboration partner(s), or pre-existing software shall be used in a research collaboration with a third party;
- Or, please contact first the Grants Office - GO! in case the software has been generated within an EU project and you want to hand over the software to the EU project partner(s), or pre-existing software shall be used in a EU project with a third party.
In both cases, reporting the software to us with the software disclosure is most likely not necessary.
Distribution of software with an Open Source License
For software distributed with an open source license recognized by the external page Open Source Initiative specific rules apply.
Please see here for any information and the rules concerning software distributed under an open source license.
Software on portals
For information concerning software distributed by you and placed on download portals (Google Play Store, Apple Store, etc.), please see the information here.
Software from a third party vendor
For software licenses to purchase from a vendor (e.g. MatLab, LabView, Cadence, MentorGraphics, etc.) or software license agreements coming from another third party (e.g. scientific software from other research institutions) and to be reviewed/negotiated, please contact the ID Procurement & Compliance.
Marketing of software
If you would like to market (license) the software, please contact us. We will be pleased to advise you of the options for commercial exploitation and to provide you with support in this regard. Your software will be evaluated, potential licensees will be contacted and we will negotiate the license agreements. In addition, we will invoice any agreed license fees to the licensee and distribute this income internally.
Please also note the information available under "What happens to licensing revenues?".
For any additional information regarding software licensing to third parties, please contact the IP & Licensing Group.