Practical Guides

PraxisAuril produces Practical Guides which are available free of charge to members. PraxisAuril Practical Guides are regularly updated and expanded; if you have any comments or suggestions for future Practical Guides please contact us at info@praxisauril.org.uk.
Author: PraxisUnico
An option to acquire rights in university intellectual property (“IP”) may be encountered in several guises: as a stand-alone agreement, as a clause within an agreement (e.g. a sponsored research agreement or a material transfer agreement), or as a ‘pipeline’ (or ‘IP framework’) agreement in the...
Author: PraxisUnico
UK universities have now generated significant income from intellectual property licensing. The traditional model, particularly (but not only) in the pharmaceutical sector, has been to grant exclusive, worldwide licences to major, international companies. Another model has been for universities to...
Author: PraxisUnico
This Practical Guide will provide a brief, practical overview of some legal issues that are commonly encountered when drafting and negotiating university contracts. Some of these issues concern the basic framework of contract law, which underpins university contracts and makes them legally...
Author: PraxisUnico
In the university technology transfer sector today, as in many other business sectors whose focus is technology exploitation, it is difficult to avoid coming across confidentiality agreements, also known as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or confidential disclosure agreements (CDAs). From the...
Author: PraxisUnico
Of the many kinds of contract that universities encounter, material transfer agreements (“MTAs”) can be the most frustrating: often quite small documents, they can raise big issues in areas as diverse as intellectual property ownership, commercialisation strategy and liability. It may be difficult...
Author: PraxisUnico
Students are no longer just the passive recipients of a State-sponsored education. They are financial investors in their education (often underwritten by a bank loan), consumers of their university’s educational services (e.g. in the context of consumer protection laws), and valuable assets of...
Author: PraxisUnico
In recent years, UK universities have become more active in forming spin-out companies as a method of commercialising intellectual property – sometimes too active, suggested the Lambert Review of University-Business Collaboration (2003). Some have been very successful, in the 30 months to the...
Author: PraxisUnico
This UNICO Practical Guide covers a selection of topics that are relevant to the management of technology transfer (TT) agreements and relationships. These range from the initial ‘due diligence’ that is done prior to the decision to engage in TT activities, through to the monitoring of a licensee’s...
Author: PraxisUnico
In the university sector today, as in many other sectors, there is increasing 6 recognition of the commercial value of the knowledge and skills of its workers. The provision of advice to commercial organisations, based on that knowledge and skill, is now an important goal for many universities....