“Research and development” or “R&D” often invokes the concept that these activities are non-commercial or non-profit-making in nature, often due to the internal or grant funded nature of many projects.
“Research and development” or “R&D” often invokes the concept that these activities are non-commercial or non-profit-making in nature, often due to the internal or grant funded nature of many projects. The result of this is that R&D agreements are often not subject to hard negotiation and do not specify the same bottom-line deliverables required in commercial supply contracts. What is often seen, is that the agreements setting out each party’s rights and obligations in connection with these innovative and potentially IP-generating activities are often neglected. Common examples of this neglect include:
Organisations undertaking R&D should:
Research-intensive organisations such as academic institutions would benefit from investing in a set of precedent R&D agreements which can be drawn down as needed by their own legal services staff. These precedents, when used together with drafting notes and a risk matrix, would potentially streamline the contracting process as well as reducing overall risk to the organisation as it would generally contract on the same terms.
Software development and particularly mobile application development is typically outsourced. This may be to an individual, SME or larger corporate. Regardless of the size or scale of the project, the risks apply to each. We have identified three key risks to R&D activity which apply when contracting with third parties.
Taking each in turn:
It is important when undertaking collaborative R&D with technological applications to put in place proper written terms addressing risks presented by that specific project. For example, whilst copyright and IP will be fundamental to a project which has a deliverable in the form of a mobile application, other R&D projects may have different risks such as regulatory or ensuring the protection of confidential information and know-how.
1 E.g. an insurance policy may only cover costs and expenses incurred by a third party for certain events, such as a third-party claim for intellectual property infringement or damage to tangible property caused by a third party. Further, the terms of insurance will usually require that the party seeking to benefit from the indemnity complies with certain conditions including: notifying the indemnifying party promptly upon becoming aware of the claim; making no admission of liability of settlement; providing all reasonable assistance in the defence of any claim; and allowing the indemnifying party full conduct of claims in any proceedings.
The BMA is advising all NHS / HSCNI consultants to ensure extra-contractual work is paid at the BMA minimum recommended rate and to decline offers of extra-contractual work that doesn't value them appropriately.
NHS England has published (October 2022) new guidance - Assuring and supporting complex change: Statutory transactions, including mergers and acquisitions.
NHS England has issued an updated (publication 11 October 2022) suite of Complex Change guidance about how it will assure and support proposals for complex change that are reportable to it. New and (where it is still in force) existing Complex Change guidance are as follows.
Created at the end of the Brexit transition period, Retained EU Law is a category of domestic law that consists of EU-derived legislation retained in our domestic legal framework by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This was never intended to be a permanent arrangement as parliament promised to deal with retained EU law through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (the “Bill”).
It is clear that the digital landscape, often termed cyberspace, is a man-made environment, in which human behaviour dominates and where technology both influences and aids our role in it — through the internet, telecoms and networked computer systems, which are often interdependent. The extent to which any organisation is potentially vulnerable to cyber-attack depends on how well these elements are aligned.
In Mogane v Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether it was fair to dismiss a nurse as redundant on the basis that that her fixed-term contract was due to expire before that of her colleague.
Three months on from the commencement of the new statutory Integrated Care Systems (ICS) Anja Beriro and Gerrard Hanratty reflect on the main themes and issues that have come from the new relationship between local government and health.
The majority of people do not feel the need to embellish their CV to get that coveted position and move on up the career ladder. Their worthiness and benefit to the hiring organisation are easily demonstrated through the recruitment process – application, psychometric testing, selection day or interview.
On Saturday 15 October a wave of light swept the internet when thousands of people flooded social media with pictures of candles to remember the babies that they have lost. This event signifies the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week which aims to break the silence that is associated with baby loss in pregnancy and infancy.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 allowed any registered medical practitioner to sign a medical certificate of cause of death (“MCCD”), even if the deceased was not attended to during his or her last illness and not seen after death, provided that the medical practitioner could state the cause of death to the best of their knowledge and belief.
In our latest Shared Insights session, Focus on Emergency Medicine, chaired by Jennifer Fagin and Amelia Newbold, we were pleased to be joined by: Dr Alex Crowe, Deputy Director Incentive Schemes & Academic Partnerships, NHS Resolution and Consultant Nephrologist and Miss Susie Hewitt MBE, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust.