ICGC Goals, Structure, Policies & Guidelines April 2008

ICGC Goals, Structure, Policies & Guidelines April 2008: PDF
D. Structure of the Consortium

Section D – Structure of the Consortium PDF
E.3 Publication Policy

Section E.3 – Publication Policy PDF
E.6 Quality Standards of Samples

Section E.6 – Quality Standards of Samples PDF
E.7 Study Design and Statistical Issues

Section E.7 – Study Design and Statistical Issues PDF

Updates to Goals, Structure, Policies & Guidelines

E.4 Intellectual Property Policy

The objective of ICGC policy regarding intellectual property (IP) policy is to maximize public benefit from data produced by the Consortium. It is the view of the ICGC members that this goal is achieved if the data remain publicly accessible without any restrictions.

POLICY: All ICGC members agree not to make claims to possible IP derived from primary data (including somatic mutations) and to not pursue IP protections that would prevent or block access to or use of any element of ICGC data or conclusions drawn directly from those data.

Users of the data (including Consortium members) may elect to perform further research that would add intellectual and resource capital to ICGC data and elect to exercise their IP rights on these downstream discoveries. However, if patents are pursued on such “downstream” inventions, ICGC participants and other data users are expected to implement licensing policies that do not obstruct further research; see for example the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s document on “Best Practices for the Licensing of Genomic Inventions" (http://www.ott.nih.gov/policy/genomic_invention.html).