In most cases, CERN is procuring a licence to a pre-existing and standard commercial product. In these situations, the contractor is typically the owner of the intellectual property (IP) which it licences to CERN under the agreement, and the contractor will also own any improvements made to this IP during the course of the agreement unless they are requested/paid by CERN.

However, in cases where the software is being specifically developed for CERN or where CERN is participating in the co-development of the software with the contractor, it is expected that CERN will own the foreground IP.

Please note that the content created during the contract period is different from the IP. The Procurement Officer should make sure that the content created is not understood as IP in order to allow CERN to keep it in CERN’s possession.