There have been some fascinating developments in new mining technologies in recent months. One of the most exciting is a new technology created by the Australian government agency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), called HyLogger which provides virtually real-time mineral analysis and logging ability.
CSIRO is a pioneering organisation that also created the WiFi technology now used the world over to make the internet accessible wirelessly.
HyLogger uses light reflected from the mineral surfaces to interpret its mineralogy and will greatly help reduce costs and time in retrieving this data compared to traditional methods. HyLogger is also proving to be a lot more reliable than existing visual techniques.
The technology is being licensed by CSIRO to Australian mining company, Corescan. Corescan has an international presence and intends to make HyLogger available to other mining regions around the world. Corescan has labs in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, South East Asia and the USA. The plans are to integrate the HyLogger technology with Corescan’s existing hyper-spectral imaging equipment and also provide support services to any HyLogger users. This new technology is providing Corsecan the opportunity to offer its customers a broad range of solutions to deal with different materials and the knowledge needed to guide future exploration. The goal is to attract further investment in mining and to open the door to new international markets.
This exciting new development in mining technology raises three key issues that all mining businesses should consider:
- In creating a new technology, like HyLogger, how can we best protect our new invention?
For all mining businesses creating new technologies or inventing solutions for old problems, whether in mining or any other industry, you need to be aware of the intellectual property (IP) rights that can protect your inventions. Some IP rights, such as copyright, arise automatically as soon as you begin to design your products. In the UK there is no registered copyright, but in other countries, including the US, you can register copyright.
Where your business is ‘inventing’ something in the classic sense of the word, there are two registered rights you should be thinking about: patents and registered designs. Patents protect how something works whereas registered designs protect the way a product appears.
You also need to protect your name and brand. Registered trade marks are a cost-effective way to ensure you gain a monopoly right over the name of your products in the mining industry and help differentiate your products from others in the market.
From an intellectual property perspective, to fully protect the majority of mining inventions it would requite patents, registered designs and copyright, as well as strong contracts with the businesses you work with ensuring all the IP rights remain with you.
- What should we think about when licencing our product?
Licencing of your products occurs where you as the owner (the licensor) of the technological intellectual property allow another company (the licensee) to use, modify and/or resell the technology you have developed. In return for providing your technology to the licensee they will pay you compensation. The usual options for compensation are: a lump sum payment, royalties based on usage, the right to use the licensee’s technology, or a combination of those options.
The way you decide to licence your product and the way you are compensated will depend on your business plan and commercial considerations. For example, you may not want the licensee to modify your complicated code as it could potentially damage the product and your brand and you would want this restriction in your licence agreement. However, licensing can be a great way to access markets that you may not have the resources to access. This can be seen in the HyLogger example with Corescan capitalising on CSIRO’s invention through a licencing relationship.
- What legal issues do we need to consider when we work with another company?
The most common legal issues that come up when two companies choose to work together are around knowledge sharing and confidentiality, and about who will own the rights in the product. At the beginning of any working relationship the parties should carefully consider how they are going to work together and take the time to document this in a binding contract. For most collaborators you should enter into a confidentiality agreement (also called a non-disclosure agreement) prior to discussing any of your technology. The binding contract will follow that once you agree how you are going to work together. This greatly lessens the risk of disputes later over ownership of the IP rights. Any outside contractors that the parties work with will also need to be bound by way of written contract.
If you are creating or developing innovations in the mining sector, you should consider the above key issues and ensure your business’ IP is protected by registrations and through binding legal agreements.