Underlying principle

The underlying principle of the five Research Collaboration Agreements is that, unless there are exceptional circumstances, the industrial Sponsor will, as a minimum, pay the University on a full economic cost basis and in return will receive a royalty free non-exclusive licence to use the Results of the Research (Agreement 1). The more the Sponsor pays, the more rights it receives so that, where the Sponsor owns the IP in the Results and the University retains no rights (as in Agreement 5), the Sponsor's contribution will be at full market rates. This principle is not cast in tablets of stone, but was what the Lambert Inner Working Group had in mind when negotiating the terms of the Research Collaboration Agreements.

That approach is too simplistic for use in the model Consortium Agreements where there are more than two parties, but when determining the Payment Plan and the return to each of the parties from the exploitation of the Results of the research, the contribution that each party has made (financially and other wise) to the Project should be taken into account.