Crown to own the intellectual property
Attention: Update to terms and conditions
These terms and conditions apply only to contracts which were awarded prior to April 1, 2014, and contracts resulting from a Request for Proposal process issued prior to the same date.
Canada to own intellectual property rights in foreground information
01 Interpretation
1. In the Contract,
"Background Information" means all Technical Information that is not Foreground Information and that is proprietary to or the confidential information of the Contractor, its Subcontractors or any other supplier of the Contractor;
"Firmware" means any computer program stored in integrated circuits, read-only memory or other similar devices;
"Foreground Information" means any Invention first conceived, developed or reduced to practice as part of the Work under the Contract and all other Technical Information conceived, developed or produced as part of the Work under the Contract;
"Intellectual Property Right" means any intellectual property right recognized by the law, including any intellectual property right protected through legislation (such as that governing patents, copyright, industrial design, integrated circuit topography, or plant breeders' rights) or arising from protection of information as a trade secret or as confidential information;
"Invention" means any new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement in any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, whether or not patentable;
"Software" means any computer program whether in source or object code (including Firmware), any computer program documentation recorded in any form or medium, and any computer database, and includes modifications to any of the foregoing;
"Technical Information" means all information of a scientific, technical or artistic nature relating to the Work, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium and whether or not subject to copyright, including but not limited to any Inventions, designs, methods, processes, techniques, know-how, models, prototypes, patterns, samples, schematics, experimental or test data, reports, drawings, plans, specifications, photographs, collections of information, manuals and any other documents, and Software. Technical Information does not include data concerned with the administration of the Contract by Canada or the Contractor, such as internal financial or management information, unless it is a deliverable under the Contract.
02 Disclosure of foreground information
- The Contractor shall promptly report and fully disclose to the Minister all Foreground Information that could be Inventions, and shall report and fully disclose to the Minister all other Foreground Information not later than the time of completion of the Work or at such earlier time as the Minister or the Contract may require.
- Before and after final payment to the Contractor, the Minister shall have the right to examine all records and supporting data of the Contractor which the Minister reasonably deems pertinent to the identification of Foreground Information.
03 Canada to own intellectual property rights in foreground
Information
- Without affecting any Intellectual Property Rights or interests therein that have come into being prior to the Contract, all Intellectual Property Rights in the Foreground Information shall immediately, as soon as they come into existence, vest in and remain the property of Canada. The Contractor shall have no right in or to any such Intellectual Property Rights in the Foreground Information except any right that may be granted in writing by Canada.
- The Contractor shall incorporate the copyright symbol and either of the following copyright notices, as appropriate, into all Foreground Information that is subject to copyright, regardless of the form in or medium upon which it is recorded:
(c) HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF CANADA (year)
or
(c) SA MAJESTÉ LA REINE DU CHEF DU CANADA (year)
- (i) For greater certainty, the Contractor agrees that where the Work under the Contract involves the preparation of a database or other compilation using information or data supplied by Canada or personal information referred to in paragraph (ii), then the Contractor shall not use or disclose any such information or data or personal information for any purpose other than completing the Work under the Contract. The Contractor shall not dispose of such information or data or personal information except by returning it to Canada. The Contractor shall comply with the General Conditions of the Contract in regard to maintaining the confidentiality of such information, data, or personal information. Unless the Contract otherwise expressly provides, the Contractor shall deliver to Canada all such information, data, or personal information, together with every copy, draft, working paper and note thereof that contains such information, data, or personal information upon completion or termination of the Contract or at such earlier time as the Minister may require.
(ii) For greater certainty and without limiting sub-section 03(1), if the Work under the Contract involves the collection of personal information as that term is defined in the Privacy Act (R.S.C., c. P-21), then all Intellectual Property Rights in and title to that personal information shall, immediately upon the collection of it by the Contractor, vest in Canada, and the Contractor shall have no right or interest in it.
- The Contractor shall execute such conveyances or other documents relating to the Intellectual Property Rights in the Foreground Information as the Minister may require, and the Contractor shall, at Canada's expense, afford the Minister all reasonable assistance in the preparation of applications and in the prosecution of any applications for registration of any Intellectual Property Right in any jurisdiction, including without limitation the assistance of the inventor in the case of Inventions.
04 License to intellectual property rights in background information
- The Contractor hereby grants to Canada a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, fully-paid and royalty-free license to exercise such of the Intellectual Property Rights in any Background Information incorporated into the Work or necessary for the performance of the Work as may be required for the following purposes:
- for the use, operation, maintenance, repair or overhaul of the Work;
- in the manufacturing of spare parts for maintenance, repair or overhaul of any custom part of the Work by Canada if those parts are not reasonably available to enable timely maintenance, repair or overhaul;
- for disclosure to any contractor engaged by Canada (or bidder for such a contract) to be used solely for a purpose set out in paragraph (a) or (b), but only if the Contractor is unable or unwilling to carry out the maintenance, repair or overhaul or provide the spare parts on reasonable commercial terms and within reasonable delivery times;
and the Contractor agrees to make any such Background Information (including, in the case of Software, source code) promptly available to Canada for any such purpose.
- The Contractor hereby further grants to Canada a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, fully-paid and royalty-free license to exercise such of the Intellectual Property Rights in the Background Information incorporated into the Work or necessary for the performance of the Work as are necessary in order for Canada to modify improve or further develop the Foreground Information. Canada's rights under this subsection 2 shall not include the right to reproduce the whole or part of any deliverable under the Contract that does not incorporate Foreground Information, save that Canada may reproduce any drawings, plans, designs, or other Background Information that are subject to copyright or industrial design protection, for purposes of modification, improvement or further development of the Foreground Information by or for Canada. The Contractor agrees to make any such Background Information (including, in the case of Software, source code) promptly available to Canada for any such purpose.
- Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 2, the license set out therein shall not apply to any Software that is subject to detailed license conditions that are set out elsewhere in the Contract.
- The Contractor acknowledges that, subject to paragraph (c) of subsection 1, Canada may wish to award contracts for any of the purposes contemplated in subsections 1 and 2 and that such contract awards may follow a competitive process. The Contractor agrees that Canada's license in relation to the Intellectual Property Rights in Background Information includes the right to disclose the Background Information to bidders for such contracts, and to sub-license or otherwise authorize the use of that information by any contractor engaged by Canada solely for the purpose of carrying out such a contract. Canada shall require bidders and the contractor not to use or disclose any Background Information except as may be necessary to bid for or to carry out that contract.
- Where the Intellectual Property Rights in any Background Information are owned by a Subcontractor at any tier, the Contractor shall either obtain a license from that Subcontractor that permits compliance with subsections 1 and 2 or arrange for the Subcontractor to convey directly to Canada the same rights by execution of the form provided for that purpose by the Minister, in which case the Contractor shall deliver that form to the Minister, duly completed and executed by the Subcontractor, no later than the time of disclosure to Canada of that Background Information.
05 Right to license
The Contractor represents and warrants that the Contractor has, or the Contractor undertakes to obtain, the right to grant to Canada the license to exercise the Intellectual Property Rights in the Background Information as required by the Contract.
06 Access to information; exception to contractor rights
- Subject to the Access to Information Act, R.S.C., c. A-1 and to any right of Canada under the Contract, Canada shall not release or disclose outside the Government of Canada any Background Information delivered to Canada under the Contract that is confidential information or a trade secret of the Contractor or a Subcontractor.
- Nothing in these terms and conditions shall be construed as limiting Canada's right to exercise the Intellectual Property Rights in any Background Information, or to disclose any Background Information, to the extent that such information:
- is or becomes in the public domain, or to the extent that the Contractor does not benefit from or ceases to benefit from any intellectual property rights protection for such information under legislation or at law (other than under the terms of the Contract), for any reason including as a result of Canada's use or disclosure of deliverables under the Contract for any purpose whatever that is not expressly excluded under the Contract;
- is or becomes known to Canada from a source other than the Contractor, except from any source that is known to Canada to be under an obligation to the Contractor not to disclose the information;
- is independently developed by or for Canada; or
- is disclosed under compulsion of a legislative requirement or any order of a court or other tribunal having jurisdiction.
07 Waiver of moral rights
- The Contractor shall provide to Canada, at the completion of the Work or at such other time as the Minister may require, a written permanent waiver of moral rights (as that term is defined in the Copyright Act, R.S.C., c. C-42), in a form acceptable to the Minister, from every author that contributed to any Foreground Information which is subject to copyright protection and which is deliverable to Canada under the terms of the Contract.
- If the Contractor is an author of the Foreground Information referred to in subsection 1, the Contractor hereby permanently waives the Contractor's moral rights in that Foreground Information.
Copyright (Re: 6.5)
Copyright
- In this section,
"Material" means anything that is created or developed by the Contractor as part of the Work under the Contract, and in which copyright subsists, but does not include computer programs and related software documentation."Moral Rights" has the same meaning as in the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42.
- Copyright in the Material shall vest in Canada and the Contractor shall incorporate in all Material the copyright symbol and either of the following notices, as appropriate:
(c) HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF Canada (year)
or
(c) SA MAJESTÉ LA REINE DU CHEF DU CANADA (year)
- At the completion of the Contract, or at such other time as the Contract or the Minister may require, the Contractor shall fully and promptly disclose to the Minister all Material created or developed under the Contract.
- Where copyright in any Material vests in Canada under the Contract, the Contractor shall execute such conveyances and other documents relating to title or copyright as the Minister may require.
- The Contractor shall not use, copy, divulge or publish any Material except as is necessary to perform the Contract.
- At the request of the Minister, the Contractor shall provide to Canada, at the completion of the Work or at such other time as the Minister may require, a written permanent waiver of Moral Rights, in a form acceptable to the Minister, from every author that contributed to the Material.
- If the Contractor is an author of the Material, the Contractor hereby permanently waives the Contractor's Moral Rights in respect of the Material.
Basis for Canada's ownership of intellectual property (Re: 7.1)
- national security;
- statutes, regulations or prior obligations of Canada to a third party or parties preclude Contractor ownership of the Intellectual Property Rights in Foreground Information;
- the Contractor has declared in writing that the Contractor is not interested in owning the Intellectual Property Rights in Foreground Information;
- the main purpose of the Contract, or of the deliverables contracted for, is to generate knowledge and information for public dissemination;
- the main purpose of the Contract, or of the deliverables contracted for, is to augment an existing body of Canada's background information rights as a prerequisite to their planned transfer to the private sector, through licensing or assignment of ownership to another person, for the purposes of commercial exploitation;
- the main purpose of the Contract, or of the deliverables contracted for, is to deliver a component or subsystem that will be incorporated into a complete system at a later date , as a prerequisite to the planned transfer of the complete system to the private sector, through licensing or assignment of ownership, for purposes of commercial exploitation;
- the Crown has opted to own the Intellectual Property Rights in Foreground Information which consists of material subject to copyright except computer software or any documentation pertaining to such software.
Basis for Canada's ownership of intellectual property
The Minister has determined that any intellectual property arising from the performance of the Work under the Contract will vest in Canada, on the following grounds: _____.
Effective October 1, 2000
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