Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)

I echo the comments of the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, in respect of what the Government has done in the area of research and development. Senator Donohoe raised a very important issue and I welcome the response from the Minster of State indicating he will consider the matter. As Senator Quinn stated, it is possible to trip over things of this nature. Senator Donohoe appears to have several people working with him and this strikes me as an area that merits and warrants revisiting as indicated by the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary.

I refer to the general area of research and development and I take this opportunity to bring to the attention of the Minister of State the matter of intellectual property protection. I refer to Irish companies involved in licensing their technology in Ireland. The treatment of intellectual property in the area of insolvency is not the same as that of property. The licence is a contract which may be disclaimed by an examiner or liquidator. This means the licensee may be deprived of an asset into which he has already made a vast investment and into which he has put considerable resources.

I raise this as a practical matter because it surfaces in the course of negotiations for a licence and I wish to draw it to the attention of the Minister of State and his departmental colleagues. In the USA, there is a provision which states that in certain circumstances the licensee is entitled to retain the licence and hence it is a valuable asset. I am simply inquiring if the Minister of State would examine this issue with Department of Finance officials to provide a level playing pitch similar to what is in place in the USA.

At present if a company in liquidation owns intellectual property, the liquidator can treat its licence to a third party as a mere contract and disclaim it. The effect is to confiscate the intangible asset for which the licensee has paid and invested vast resources, time and so forth. In practice, Irish intellectual property owning companies are less attractive than others. I am unsure of the measures in place in Europe but in the USA there is a mechanism that deals with the matter. If the Minister of State wishes, I will put the mater to him formally in writing. I gather from his body language he would like me to do so. I will try to get the material to the Minster of State as quickly as possible and if something can be included on Final Stage it may be helpful.