Does Australian Have Access to Sufficient Intellectual Capital?
Whatever the discussions between the parties, there is an appearance that the Commonwealth does not have access as yet to sufficient intellectual property rights to ensure that ASC can be effective. McIntosh and Prescott argued that the contract for the submarines ought to cover all necessary intellectual property rights to cover ongoing support requirements.(66) Yet in early 2000, when the then Minister appointed John Prescott to provide advice on options for the future of the company, he included the issue of continuing access to intellectual property throughout the operational lives of the submarines.(67) By year’s end, when the Commonwealth announced its outright purchase of ASC, one of the strategic factors still to be addressed was securing ‘access to necessary technologies’.(68) Six months later, the current Minister said that among the issues still being worked through were legal issues such as intellectual property and the design authority.(69) Until a resolution can be achiev
