Providing your IP to the build yard is a normal part of the process of building in a foreign country if you don’t have your own yard there: it’s being done in Aust, Singapore, Indonesia, Chile and many other places. And to get to build first you need to win, which means convincing the customer in your bid that your build program is achievable, and that in turn means you need to make arrangements of some sort with a local yard unless of course you plan a green fields approach.
I don't know the normal relationships between designer and builder but I do know that in the case of the AWDs, the fact that they were not part of the Alliance caused problems until they were brought into the build process.
Is it not normal that a builder constructing a design which is not theirs usually forms a partnership with the designer? If that happened I would assume that all the IP issues would not arise and didn't all the problems of IP between Kockums and the ASC only begin after Kockums left?
If a company's IP is to be handed over without reservation to a foreign builder it must be bound by some really strict useage criteria but what happens when the build is complete? The builder has had use of that IP and has learned from it. How is this handled?
I can understand the designers concerns in the Canadian example so how is this all resolved?
Sorry spoz for all the questions but I know you have been involved in these matters.
