Regulations

A) Regulations applied to beneficiaries of CNIC training programme calls

Clause 1. Personal scope

Considered as funds or contracts holders or participants in CNIC (Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research) training programmes are the following:

• Those with funds or contracts from the CNIC's own calls.
• Holders of funds or contracts from calls outside the CNIC published by other public or private, Spanish or foreign institutions, officially attached to the CNIC.
• Holders of funds or contracts from calls outside the CNIC published by other public or private, Spanish or foreign institutions, not officially attached to the CNIC, but who undertake training placements at the CNIC.
• Students participating in training programmes announced by the CNIC, whether remunerated or not.
• University students who, without having a funds or contracts or being registered on CNIC training programmes, take part in training placements at the CNIC authorised by their respective university centres.

Clause 2. Ownership of the invention

Ownership of inventions made by funds or contracts holders or participants in CNIC training programmes, whether remunerated or not, during the term of their funds or contracts or training placement at the CNIC, which are the result of research activity explicitly or implicitly constituting the purpose of their funds or contracts or training placement, belong to the CNIC. In the scope of  Law 24/2015, de 24 July, of Patents.

Clause 3. Other inventions

1. Inventions in which those circumstances foreseen in the above clause do not apply, belong to the funds or contracts holder or participant in the training programmes who are their authors.
2. However, when the funds or contracts holder or participants in the training programme makes an invention in relation to his or her training activity at the CNIC and in obtaining which the knowledge acquired within the CNIC or the use of resources provided by the CNIC would have had predominant influence, the CNIC will have the right to assume ownership of the invention or to reserve the right to use it.
3. When the CNIC assumes the ownership of an invention or reserves the right to use it, the funds or contracts holder or participant in the training programme will have the right to fair economic compensation, set in view of the invention's industrial and commercial importance and taking the value of the resources or knowledge provided by the CNIC and the funds or contracts holder’s or participant in the training programmes’ own contributions into account.

Clause 4. Information to the CNIC

1. The funds or contracts holder or participant in the training programme who makes any of the inventions whose ownership falls to the CNIC, in accordance with the above clauses, shall notify the CNIC of this by means of written communication, with the necessary data and reports for the CNIC to be able to exercise the rights applying in the period of three months.
2. The CNIC, within the aforementioned period of three months counted from the day after receipt of the communication referred to in the above point, shall assess the invention in question and notify its author or authors of whether or not it commits itself to maintaining the rights to it. If the CNIC undertakes to maintain these rights, it will be obliged to present the patent application within the maximum period of one month.
3. The result of the research capable of being patented may not be published during the three month period referred to in the previous point or until the patent application has been presented.
   Both the CNIC and the funds or contracts holder or participant in the training programme shall collaborate in good faith to the degree necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the industrial property rights deriving from inventions, avoiding any action which may be detrimental to such rights.
4. When the CNIC opts not to maintain the rights to the invention, its author or authors may present the patent application. In any case, the CNIC shall have the right to a non-exclusive, non-transferable, free licence for use. Likewise, when profits are obtained from the exploitation of the aforementioned rights, a share of 20% of these shall belong to the CNIC.

Clause 5. Communicating inventions

Those who, having been included in the personal scope of this agreement, present an application for a patent or other right to protection, within one year of the termination of the funds or contracts or participation in the training programme, shall notify the CNIC Foundation in an effective manner.

Inventions for which an application for a patent or other right to exclusive protection are presented within one year of the termination of the funds or contracts or participation in the training programme may be claimed by the CNIC.

Clause 6.Distribution of profits

1. The profits obtained by the CNIC due to the exploitation of an invention of which it is the owner will be distributed as follows:
   • One third for the CNIC.
   • One third for the author or authors of the invention.
   • One third to be distributed in accordance with the criteria laid down by the foundation’s governing bodies, taking into account the patent's importance and significance, the profits it may generate and the participation or collaboration of personnel other than the author or authors of the invention.
2. The profits going to the author or authors of the invention shall be transmissible by all means recognised by Law and will in no case have the nature of a salary.

Clause 7. Ceding rights

Beneficiaries included in the scope of application of these rules who decide to transfer their economic or other rights, where applicable, to the CNIC, shall be governed, if relating to economic rights, to the tax system applicable to that transfer for the case in which taxable profits may result for the assignor.

When the transfer requires the CNIC’s acceptance, under the terms of the above provisions, this shall be conditional upon this acceptance, which shall be express and in writing or in the form of an irrefutable e-mail.

Clause 8. Legal actions

The CNIC Foundation reserves the right to take the legal actions which may derive from failure to comply with the obligations contained in the above stipulations.

B) Regulations applied to holders of funds or contracts from external announcements the publication of which does not depend on the CNIC

Holders of funds or contracts from external calls shall be governed:

1. By the rules laid down in the corresponding call as established in Article 5.1.f) of Spanish Royal Decree 63/2006, of 27 January, approving the Statute for research personnel in training, by reason of which "As regards the possible rights or research personnel in training to industrial property, this shall be governed by that laid down in the corresponding call, within the framework of Law 11/1986, of 20 March, on Patents, and, where appropriate, of Royal Decree 55/2002, of 18 January, on the exploitation and transfer of inventions made in public research organisations. In the scope of  Law 24/2015, de 24 July, of Patents.
2. If the call does not consider a specific system for industrial property and none of the aspects indicated in Section A regulate it, the rules laid down in Section A shall apply to all those funds or contracts holders with the CNIC as the centre to which they are assigned. These funds or contracts holders shall sign a document for individual assignment when they join the centre.