Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) refers to different types of intangible expressions (such as artistic and literary work, discoveries and inventions, words, symbols and designs) for which specific monopoly rights are recognized under specific laws.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

In general raw data on their own are considered facts and thus cannot be copyrighted. However, data that are gathered together in a unique and original way, such as databases, can be copyrighted or licensed. It is important to understand data licensing from the perspective of both the data user and data creator.

Sharing data that you have produced or collected yourself

• Data is not copyrightable. Particular expressions of data, such as a table in a book, can be copyrightable.

• Promote sharing and unlimited use of your data by making it available under an appropriate license to ensure proper re-use and attribution. There are many licenses available that represent the range of rights for the creator and licensee of the data. Two options for providing open licenses for research data are:

  • Open Data Commons License: set of legal tools and licenses to help you publish, provide and use open data

  • Creative Commons License: provides a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law

Sharing data that you have collected from other sources

• Licensed data can have restrictions in the way it can be used or shared downstream

• When re-using existing data be sure to clarify ownership, obtain permissions if needed, and understand limits set by licenses

• Be sure to provide appropriate attribution and citation

• If licensing restricts sharing of the data, providing detailed information about where the data were obtained and how the data were analyzed can help with reproducibility