Scope of the Guidelines

Typically ICT contracts will be with national or multi-national vendors, external service providers, systems integrators, software developers and sole traders. The services and deliverables may consist of both existing IP and new IP, and new IP can be created through provision of the deliverables as well as through the Supplier’s performance of the contract.

These Guidelines are principally concerned with new IP in ICT contracts.

The following matters are not within the scope of the Guidelines:

• IP in packaged software.
• Deliverables from ICT contracts governed by open source licences (such deliverables are covered by The Guide to Legal Issues in Using Open Source Software).
• Personal information (regulation of that information is addressed by the Privacy Act 1993).
• Content that could be covered by the Policy Framework for Government-held Information.
• IP created by the Supplier in the course of the contract but not forming part of the deliverables.

These Guidelines do not require agencies to renegotiate existing contracts or review their ownership of IPR created prior to the release of these Guidelines.

However, there may be other reasons, such as reuse by other agencies or jurisdictions, or unexpected commercialisation opportunities, why an agency would undertake a review, and in such cases they should use the Guidelines in their decision-making.