Research Agreements

RBS has represented British Columbia’s largest research university (the University of British Columbia) for more than 100 years. The firm also represents other major post-secondary institutions, research-driven organizations and private industries with respect to their scientific research and development activities.

Lawyers in the Advanced Education and Research Group have specific experience in assisting institutional clients and private sponsors of research with the structuring, negotiating and drafting of:

• Research collaborations, both between industry partners and between industry and institutional research organizations
• Research-focused strategic alliance and joint venture agreements
• Research sponsorships and contract research agreements
• Research chair endowments and sponsorships
• Clinical trial agreements
• Technology and intellectual property option agreements
• Technology and intellectual property assignment transactions
• Inter-institutional research collaboration and technology management agreements
• Material transfer, confidentiality, non-competition / solicitation, and stand-still agreements

The Advanced Education and Research Group can also assist you with navigating a broad range of institutional policies and procedures that govern the funding and conduct of research at public institutions, which includes advising on strategies for:

• Securing, protecting, and managing intellectual property developed in connection with research collaborations
• The effective commercialization of research results
• Managing competing objectives for publication of research results and protection of intellectual property rights 

The professionals at RBS understand how research collaborations work and the environment within which such collaborations are formed. The Advanced Education and Research Group clearly understand the constraints placed on institutions by public funding and accountability, their unique governance models and the culture of academic freedom within which they operate. Similarly, the firm can advise industry-based research sponsors on how to work within these frameworks to leverage their research funding and to achieve research results that can be protected and successfully commercialized.

RBS is also strongly connected. Its lawyers are frequent speakers and contributors within this sector, including the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), ACCT Canada’s Innovations Leaders Forum, the Pacific Rim Advisory Council, the University of British Columbia’s Industry Liaison Office, Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, the Vancouver Enterprise Forum, the Canadian Association of University Solicitors, the WestLink Innovation Network, the British Columbia Trial Lawyers Association, Insight Information, Canadian Bar Association Intellectual Property & Technology Law Section, and the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC. They are also active board members of organizations such as the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and Langara College. 

The Advanced Education and Research Group has the following representative experience:

• • Representing the University of British Columbia’s Industry Liaison Office in all facets of research and technology transfer-related transactions
  • Representing other leading British Columbia research institutions in connection with the funding and execution of research activities, including the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) and British Columbia Cancer Agency Technology Development Office [Note: May add Genome B.C.]
  • Advising the University of British Columbia on its successful negotiation of a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Roche Pharmaceuticals; the transaction was the university’s largest research and license transaction, with up to $141.7 million USD in pre-clinical, clinical, and sales milestone payments and royalties