PACP Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Public Accounts |
HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6 |
Comité permanent des comptes publics |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY NOT BEING MANAGED EFFECTIVELY
Ottawa, April 19, 2010 -
The federal government’s decentralized approach to managing intellectual property is not working well as most federal organizations do not have sufficient expertise to identify and protect intellectual property, according to a report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts presented to the House of Commons today.
In May 2009, the Office of the Auditor General released an audit on whether selected government departments could demonstrate that they managed Crown-owned intellectual property effectively. The audit found that the government does not know how much intellectual property is generated externally in the course of contracted work. Also, some departments lack adequate mechanisms and expertise to consistently identify and disclose intellectual property generated by their employees. The National Research Council Canada, on the other hand, has a policy on intellectual property, a process for disclosure review, and is developing comprehensive guidelines on licensing intellectual property.
The Public Accounts Committee was concerned that by not managing intellectual property effectively, the government may not be fully utilizing the value of intellectual property, and could potentially be forced to pay to use intellectual property that was produced as the result of a government contract. The Committee concluded that the current decentralized approach to managing intellectual property in the federal government is not working well.
The Committee believes that the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat should provide stronger leadership, coordination, and direction on this issue. Also, the Secretariat should use the best practices and expertise of the National Research Council Canada to assist departments and agencies in developing effective policies and practices to manage internally generated intellectual property.
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