As part of its knowledge and information management strategy, the government party should identify and manage the intellectual property relating to the project.
The contract director should have an understanding of the nature of the intellectual property that the government party may hold or receive in relation to the project, and should also understand the legal principles applying to the protection of that intellectual property. The project deed may require the private party to provide a register of intellectual property for the project.
Section 13.5 of the National PPP guidelines: practitioners' guide presents an overview of the identification and treatment of intellectual property in Partnerships Victoria projects and outlines the interaction of the FoI Act and the protection of trade secrets.
The appropriate intellectual property management strategy will depend on the nature of the intellectual property and the contractual provisions applying to it. Both the National PPP guidelines: commercial principles7 and the Partnerships Victoria standard project deed guidance notes set out the government's preferred contractual position in respect of intellectual property. The contract director should ensure that the contract administration manual specifies the actions necessary to fulfil the government party's intellectual property obligations under the project deed. Actions and processes that may be relevant include:
• ensuring confidential information in any intellectual property is kept in secure storage and personnel are aware of its confidential nature;
• restricting access to particularly sensitive information held by the government party so that only a select group of personnel can access it;
• identifying confidential information in any intellectual property in the government party's information management systems;
• maintaining a register of all intellectual property used in relation to the project; and
• ensuring any licences and sub-licences of intellectual property are reviewed and renewed when necessary.
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7 National PPP guidelines, refer to: Volume 3: Commercial principles for social infrastructure, Chapter 37 and Volume 7: Commercial principles for economic infrastructure, Chapter 36.