Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

These amendments pertain to intellectual property rights affected by section 19 of the 1961 Act. I will clarify the reason for these amendments. Under the Industrial Research and Standards Acts 1961, there is a provision that any discoveries or inventions resulting from research carried out by or on behalf of the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards are the property of the Minister. Subsequent amendment to the legislation has resulted in a development whereby under this Act, research carried out by Eolas, Forbairt, Forfás and Enterprise Ireland, as well as the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards, are the property of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Historically, employees of the agencies carried out research on behalf of the agencies. Over time, however, the role of the agencies has changed and research no longer is carried out directly on behalf of agencies such as Enterprise Ireland.

To retain ownership of intellectual property that is created in this manner would not contribute to the strategy of fostering and promoting innovation. The current practice is that when a State agency funds research that leads to the creation of intellectual property, under the national code of practice such intellectual property is owned by the responsible research institution, which often is a university, as opposed to either the research funder or the individual researcher. While I could continue, I believe I have provided sufficient clarity in this regard.