Common use of Data and Database Management Clause in Contracts

Data and Database Management. Databases created in the course of research may be copyrightable and thus fall under the copyright policy (See Article 2.1). This Policy is concerned with the ownership of, and the right to use, original data collected or measured in the course of teaching, academic and research activities involving academic personnel. It is not concerned with data from external sources used in research at the university, other than to assert the obligation that publications or theses using such data must recognize and fully document their sources. Academic personnel have the obligation to protect and preserve, for a reasonable period (defined by the norms of the discipline), and to make available to other scholars and non-commercial users, the data on which their work is based. Ownership of data assembled by academic personnel in the course of their research may be contentious and, because access to it is important for research and scholarship, ownership shall be jointly held by the university and the creator(s), notwithstanding Policy 1.1, subject to the following conditions: a) To the extent that the creator(s) have rights in such data, the creator(s) grant the university a perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable license to copy and use any or all such data in teaching (including distance and continuing education), research and academic activities within the university. b) The creator(s) shall make available the resulting data set(s), after completion and publication of the thesis or paper on which the data set is based, to other university personnel for royalty-free, non-commercial use in teaching, research and academic activities within the university. Notwithstanding the above, all university personnel have the collegial obligation to allow the owner(s) of such data a first opportunity to exploit those data for published work. Exceptions to these rules are allowed only when the research is subject to confidentiality requirements due to contractual arrangements with a sponsoring agency, to publication delays associated with patent applications, or to university ethics constraints on research involving human subjects or animals which are contained in the Research Ethics Policy and Procedures, which can be found on the university's website. In the case of contractual limitations, all collaborators must be made aware of, and agree in advance to, such constraints.