Intellectual property or IP as we call, it has to do with three overall subjects:skills, things and relationships.

SKILLS THINGS RELATIONSHIPS

When talking about skills in the context of IP it is all the knowledge, skills and competencies we have, training we provide and ideas we

raise.

In relation to IP, things areunderstood as rights linked to physical, service and process

related things. Examples include interventions, trademark,

copyright and brands.

We rarely do and deliver things on our own, so relationships,

partners and collaborations are essential to have in mind when talking about IP. This has to do with shares, brand and rights of the things and ideas developed

together, and agreements allowing people and organizations to go separate ways as needed with

those things or ideas.

Why should I care?

Let’s start with an example:

Your organization are partnering with a corporate firm on a cashdistribution platform. After a few months, the corporate firm has a huge media scandal due to selling data on cash use from the platform to a third party, who are using this knowledge to sell fraudulent products to your beneficiaries.

The humanitarian field often thinks differently about our ‘services as property’ to the for-profit sector. We often see an advantage in our things, approaches and skills reaching as far as possible with ‘diffusion’ models, or giving things away for free to have maximum impact. Even if there isn’t a profit motive for your innovation, you still want to ensure your innovation is used and scaled for positive impact.

HUMANITARIAN INNOVATIONINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PRIMER

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Hold on to your values, and keep in mind that the values, interests and criteria for success will likely be different for your partner organisation. Example – Your NGO partners with a medicine company to develop affordable medical products for refugee camps. Your success is to reach as many people as possible, but the medicine company calculates their success in total profit.

Remember there are different ways to share IP. Consider the future of your project and know you can negotiate IP. Make sure you aren’t giving away ownership or rights to anything that can end or close your project.

Have a scale up strategy for how your innovation will succeed and scale and make sure the IP agreements you make are in alignment with this strategy.

Set rules for collaboration early on, and be clear on how you divide the ownership when your project is being developed and implemented. Trust in the organization and people you are working with is important, but remember these people can always change, so make sure ownership is clear with those you trust, for the future.

Collaboration for Innovation

Most innovation projects build partnerships and collaborations during their projects. It is important that when you are working with other individuals or organizations, you know what you are bringing to the collaboration and what you want to protect. Some useful things to remember include:

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Ensure IP discussions are written and agreed to – preferably in a signed contract or MOU. Remember to agree on how much you are allowed to share outside the partnership, and how you divide income at all stag-es of the innovation. Since innovation projects tend to move very quickly, at the very least ensure there are written agreements by email, with email approval responses from all partners.

Remember there will be times you need to balance parts of your project for the greatest impact and success. Some of the tensions to consider include: financial sustainability vs impact, resources from partnerships (skills, funding etc.) vs your vision of the innovation, ethical issues that arise and need deep consideration.

IP is not a one-time decision, just like your innovation evolves, you should be thinking about IP throughout your project as you add partners, build relationships, and understand more about what success and impact look like for your innovation.

You should consider your ‘trade secrets’ when thinking about partnerships. What information do you want to share for positive impact, and what can have negative consequences?

Always read contracts! It’s very simple and yet has ruined many innovation projects – make sure you know what you are signing and it aligns with your project. Never feel afraid of asking for changes.

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Where do I start?

Here is a five-step strategy you can follow:

1. Identify the types of IP you want to protect. Is it a skill, a thing or a relationship? You don’t need to protect everything – just think about what are the key elements to your success.

2. Assess the value of that IP to you. Why should no one else use this except you and your organisation?

3. Decide how you will protect it.

4. Take Action. Do some market research, talk to a lawyer, put Confidentiality Agreements in place, file registrations over your IP as needed.

5. Think Scale. Don’t wait for difficult conversations on IP once your solution works, agree on ownership early on.

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How do I protect my IP?

Here are some of the common ways to protect IP. There are other opportunities out there, and you might find it useful to speak to a lawyer in your country ofoperation, or ask Google a few questions.

1. A patent grants property rights on an invention,allowing you to exclude others from making, selling, or using the invention.

2. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that distinguishes the source of products (trademarks) or services (service marks) of one business from its competitors.

3. A trade secret is a formula, process, device, or other business information that companies keep private to give them a business advantage over their competitors.

4. Contracts are also an important part of IP protection.

5. Copyrights protect original works of authorship, such as literary works, music, dramatic works, graphic works, sound recordings, architectural works, and computer software. With copyright protection, the holder has the exclusive rights to modify, distribute, perform, create, display, and copy the work.

There are also other types of licensing which are more aligned with scaling humanitarian innovation such as Creative Commons where others can copy and redis-tribute material in any medium or format if they follow the license terms. License terms may include the following which can protect both the intent and positive impact of the materials, and reputation of your organization:

• Attribution — You must give appropriate credit,provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

• Non Commercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

Where can I learn more?

Want to understand more about the basics of Intellectual Property - http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/intprop-erty/450/wipo_pub_450.pdf

Want to understand more about the challenges with Humanitarian Patent Licensing - http://www.ip-watch.org/2017/09/28/disparity-access-medicines-spurs-humanitarian-patent-licensing/

Talk to a local lawyer. If you are in a country where the Response Innovation Lab operates we can suggest lawyers who work on humanitarian innovation IP.