Rector's Regulation No. 9/2013
to ensure sustainability of outcomes in the field of
intellectual property
(as in force from 1 September 2013)
Pursuant to Section 10, Paragraph 1, the Act No. 111/1998 on Universities and on Amendments
to Other Acts (Higher Education Act) as amended.
Article 1
Introductory provisions
(1) This Regulation is issued for the purposes of determination and stabilization of duties of
employees of Masaryk University (hereinafter "MU") when dealing with MU intellectual
property, particularly in connection with sustainability of outcomes related to
intellectual property.
(2) The purpose of this regulation is not to impose new duties on MU employees, but only
to make them familiar with the most important duties arising from the legislation and
the internal rules of MU regulating intellectual property, particularly the MU Directive
No. 10/2013 on Intellectual Property at Masaryk University, and the MU Instruction
8/2013 on Rules for Completing Projects within the Operational Program "Education for
Competitiveness" carried out at MU.
(3) In the event of a conflict of this Regulation with the legislation or the MU internal rules,
the legislation or the respective MU internal rules take precedence.
Article 2
Definition of terms
According to the internal rules of MU1:
a) Copyrighted work (work) means a literary work, or another work of art, or a scientific
work which is a unique result of creative activities of an author and is expressed in
any objectively perceivable manner including the electronic form, either permanently
or temporarily, and regardless of its scope, purpose or importance. Copyrighted
works are e.g. literary, musical, dramatic and musical-dramatic, choreographic and
pantomimic, photographic, audiovisual, pictorial and architectural, cartographical
and applied art works but also computer programs, works originated by a creative
adaptation of other works, including a translation into another language, anthologies
and databases.
1
Art. 3, MU Directive No. 10/2013 on Intellectual property at Masaryk University.
b) Intellectual property means rights to the results an originator/author created when
performing the tasks stemming from his/her employment or another employment
relationship with MU, when fulfilling student requirements, or the results to which
MU has acquired rights under a contract. Intellectual property means (1) rights to
subjects of industrial property, (2) rights to subjects of intellectual property protected
by other legal regulations, (3) copyrights, or (4) rights to databases.
c) Industrial property means rights to the results of intellectual activity which are
industrially applicable; these are particularly the rights to inventions, technical
solutions eligible for protection as a utility model, an industrial design and a
topography of semiconductor products, a rationalization proposal, a plant variety, a
biotechnological invention or a trademark.
d) Result means the result of a human activity (especially of creative, economic,
entrepreneurial, technical, trading, marketing, scientific, research or organizational
nature) which may be subject to intellectual property protection and is eligible to be
used by MU itself or by another entity.
e) Employee work means an individual or collective creative work that the author
created to fulfil his/her obligations stemming from his/her employment or another
employment relationship with MU.
Article 3
General duties in protection of intellectual property
(1) With reference to the law2, an employee is obliged in particular:
a) to guard and protect the intellectual property of the employer and the rights
associated with it, and not to act in conflict with the legitimate interests of the
employer,
b) to ensure that the intellectual property which is owned by the employer or to which
the employer has a licence, a lien or any other right, is used only for the employer
and in his/her legitimate interests. For another person it may be used only if
established so by the employer or if it results from a contract made by the employer.
(2) The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall also apply adequately to intellectual
property which the employer uses under a license agreement, or to which he/she only
exercises rights without being the owner regardless of the legal grounds for exercising
these rights.
(3) With reference to the internal rules of MU3 a researcher of a project within the
Operational Program "Education for Competitiveness" (hereinafter "OPEC") shall ensure
an unlimited non-exclusive licence for the provider to use any submitted outputs having
2
Sections 1a and 301, Act No. 262/2006 on Labour Code as amended.
Art. 2, MU Guideline No. 8/2013 on Rules for Completing Projects within the Operational Program “Education for
Competitiveness” carried out at MU.
3
the nature of intellectual property. For this purpose, the researcher, if necessary, shall
ensure written consents of possible co-authors who are not employees of MU, with
authorization to use the work to an unlimited extent and for the period of duration of
the economic rights to the work.
(4) With reference to the internal rules of MU4, the project researcher is obliged to ensure
that the OPEC outputs in the form of published employee works are implemented in the
Repository of Employees Works.5
Article 4
Industrial property
(1) With reference to the law6 and the internal rules of MU7 an employee is obliged to
notify MU, in writing, of any result created by him/her in the course of employment or
another employment relationship with MU which may be a subject of industrial
property, including the sources needed for a proper judgment of the possibility to
exercise the right to the subject of industrial property, even if the employee has doubts
that it is a subject of industrial property. The appurtenances of the notification referred
to in the previous sentence are stipulated in an internal rule of MU.8
(2) With reference to the law9 an employee is required to maintain confidentiality for any
result which may be a subject of industrial property and is created by him/her in the
course of employment or any other employment relationship with MU.
Article 5
Trade secrets
(1) Information constituting a trade secret is confidential under the internal rules of MU.10
(2) If results, subjects of industrial property or other facts are subject to trade secret,11 the
senior staff12 of the workplace where the trade secret is used shall, with reference to the
internal rules of MU,13 be obliged:
a) to determine the scope of facts which MU considers a trade secret,
b) to establish rights of access to trade secrets for specific employees,
4
Art. 5, MU Guideline No. 8/2013 on Rules for Completing Projects within the Operational Program “Education for
Competitiveness” carried out at MU.
5
Art. 3, MU Directive No. 4/2013 on Repository of Employees Works.
6
Section 9, Act No. 527/1990 on Inventions and Improvement Proposals as amended.
7
Art. 5, MU Directive No. 10/2013 on Intellectual property at Masaryk University.
8
Appendix No. 1, MU Directive No. 10/2013 on Intellectual property at Masaryk University.
9
Section 9, Para 3, Act No. 527/1990 on Inventions and Improvement Proposals as amended.
10
Art. 13, MU Directive No. 10/2013 on Intellectual property at Masaryk University; Section 276, Act No. 262/2006,
Labour Code as amended.
11
Section 504, Act No. 89/2012, Civil Code.
12
Section 11, Act No 262/2006, Labour Code as amended.
13
Article 12, MU Directive No. 10/2013, Intellectual property at Masaryk University.
c) to make the relevant employees familiar with the determination of facts which MU
considers a trade secret and with their obligations to protect them, including the
consequences of a breach of these obligations,
d) to ensure the confidentiality of trade secrets adequately.
(3) When making use of the results subject to a certain degree of confidentiality it is
required, with reference to the MU internal rules,14 to act in accordance with the
relevant legislation.15
Article 6
Copyrighted Works
(1) The authors of employee works, when exercising economic rights in copyright to works
with the retained exercise of economic rights,16 are obliged to respect the limits set by
the grant provider or by a contract between MU and an external entity (e.g. an
agreement on contracted research, a contract for work, or a cooperation agreement),
especially the limits on the exercise of economic rights in copyright as far as the
following aspects are concerned: scope, material, territory, time, quantity, or exclusivity
and options to grant sublicenses.
(2) The heads of University Economic Units are, with reference to the internal rules of
MU,17 obliged to take measures to ensure that MU is authorized to exercise economic
rights in copyright (in the case of employee works), or to provide a third party with
sublicenses (in the case of school works or works created by authors not having an
employment or another employment relationship with MU), in all cases where the Act
No. 130/2002, the grant provider or a contract between MU and a third party establish,
that the copyright to the results (copyrighted works) are to belong to MU.
Article 7
Final provisions
(1) The provisions of the internal rules, referred to in this Regulation, do not affect the
obligations of the senior staff to check the work of their subordinate employees and to
ensure adoption of measures to protect the assets of the employer,18 nor the senior
staff’s duty to report a violation of the respective duties to the Audit Department of the
MU Rector’s Office.
14
Article 13, MU Directive No. 10/2013, Intellectual property at Masaryk University.
Act No. 412/2005 on Protection of Confidential Information and on Security Capability as amended.
16
Art. 17, MU Directive No. 10/2013 on Intellectual property at Masaryk University.
17
Art. 16, MU Directive No. 10/2013 on Intellectual property at Masaryk University.
18
Section 302, Act No. 262/2006, Labour Code as amended.
15
(2) In the case of violation of duties established by the legislation or by the internal rules of
MU the employees may be held liable under the respective legal rules.19
(3) All the contracts of employment, contracts for work or contracts for performance of
work where MU is an employer, that are concluded, altered or re-negotiated after the
day on which this Regulation becomes effective, shall include the following text: "The
employee declares that he/she is aware of their rights and obligations arising from the
legislation and the internal rules of MU governing intellectual property. The employee
undertakes to abide by both the internal rules of MU and the valid legislation."
(4) The head of the University Economic Unit shall consider who of the other employees
should sign the amendment mentioned in the previous paragraph. When doing so they
shall take into consideration especially whether such employees, when performing their
duties, participate in a project with commitment to sustainability.
(5) This Regulation will become effective on the date of its publication.
In Brno, on 30 August 2013
19
Mikuláš Bek
Rector
Sections 55 and 250, Act No. 262/2006, Labour Code as amended; Section 420 and the following, Act No.
40/1964, Labour Code as amended; Section 2894 and the following, Act No. 89/2012, Civil Code.