IP Policy

Follow The Logic · hans.schepers@follow-the-logic.com

Last updated: August 2026

What a model consists of

“Model” is used loosely in conversation, and the looseness causes arguments later. A model as we build it has layers, and it is worth naming them:

  1. The scheme. The conceptual structure: what the states are, what acts on what, where the boundaries of the system were drawn.
  2. The equations. The rate equations and the algebraic relations between them.
  3. The parameters. Names, values and units. Some are calibrated on your data, others are taken from the literature or from our own earlier work, so a delivered parameter set is normally partially calibrated. Which is which is stated.
  4. The implementation. Working code, in R and often in JavaScript.
  5. The numerical settings. Solver, step size, tolerances, and the conditions under which the implementation is known to behave.
  6. The layers on top. Scenarios, KPI definitions, economics, and the translation from biology into the numbers you are measured on.
  7. The documentation. Enough for a competent modeller to understand and check the above.

Which of these are delivered is agreed per project and recorded on the Delivery List. As a default, layers 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 are delivered for the model built for your question, and layer 4 is delivered as far as it can be separated from our general framework code.

That default is deliberate. It gives you everything needed to understand, audit, maintain and extend the model, and to have someone else work on it. It does not oblige us to hand over the general-purpose machinery that happened to produce it.

What you get

Everything produced specifically for your engagement and recorded on the Delivery List, which is to say reports, the models built for your question, parameter sets, analysis, simulation tools and documentation (the Deliverables), is yours to use on payment in full.

You receive a permanent, worldwide, royalty-free right to use, modify, extend and commercially exploit the Deliverables, including inside your own products. There is no ongoing licence fee and no restriction on use within your organisation. We do not supply the same Deliverables to anyone else.

That last point is about the Deliverables themselves, not about our field of work. It does not mean we stop working on similar questions for other clients; see Exclusivity below.

Where you need formal ownership rather than the rights described above, for instance because a funder or a procurement policy requires it, say so and we will sign a deed of transfer.

Deliverables are handed over in the state described on the Delivery List. A model description delivered as a working subset is exactly that; there is no implied entitlement to a more complete version of an underlying or generic model from which it was derived.

If your engagement is funded by a third party, for example a Horizon Europe grant, and that funder’s rules impose open-access or exploitation obligations on deliverables, it is your responsibility to flag this at the start of the engagement so we can agree handling.

What stays ours

Follow The Logic brings proprietary modelling frameworks, methods and tools to every engagement. These were developed independently, before and alongside client work. They are our working method, the means by which we deliver quality results efficiently.

They are not part of the Deliverables. They do not appear as documented components in reports or code, and clients do not receive access to them as part of an engagement.

This is not unusual. A specialist contractor brings their expertise to your problem. The expertise stays with the contractor; the outcome stays with you.

Generic models, meaning those built or maintained by Follow The Logic independently of a specific engagement, are part of this category, whether or not a version of one has been published. Publishing a model does not place it in the public domain and does not transfer rights in it to readers or clients. Where we publish, we say under which licence.

Hosted tools and services

Where Follow The Logic hosts a simulator or dashboard on your behalf, two things are happening at once and they are separate:

  • The application you and your people use. Interface, presentation, scenario definitions and your own configuration. This is delivered.
  • The calculation running on our server. The equations, the calibrated values and the code that executes them. This stays with us and stays out of the browser, which is what makes it possible to give your people a fully working tool without publishing the model behind it.

Access to a hosted service runs for the agreed period. Ending it does not affect anything already handed over on a Delivery List. If you want the server-side model itself, that is a licence conversation and we are open to it.

Redistribution

Deliverables may be used freely inside your organisation, and by direct partners, contractors and consultants working on your behalf.

They may not be sold, published or distributed to third parties as a standalone product or service without prior written agreement. Building a Deliverable into a wider product of your own is expressly permitted; extracting it and shipping it as the product is not.

If you need the restriction lifted, or formal ownership transferred, that is a separate arrangement, negotiated and priced on its own merits. Ask and we will have the conversation.

Exclusivity

Follow The Logic may work with other clients in similar domains, including your competitors. What you receive is exclusive use of your Deliverables, which is a different thing: we will not hand the same models, reports or tools to somebody else, and we will not reuse work that carries your data or your confidential specifics.

Exclusivity in the wider sense, meaning a restriction on our working with competitors in a defined field or geography, is not included by default. Where it is needed it must be explicitly agreed, and it affects the engagement fee accordingly.

Licensing our frameworks

If you are interested in licensing or embedding Follow The Logic’s proprietary modelling frameworks in your own products or platform, that is a separate and welcome conversation.

Attribution and portfolio

Follow The Logic may reference the type of work and the methods used in portfolio descriptions, publications and presentations, without disclosing client data, results or confidential specifics. If you prefer not to be mentioned even generically, please say so at the start of the engagement.