The F-35 and its IP Issues

I have a piece at the National Interest that looks at one of the IP conflicts that’s afflicting the F-35 project. This is only one of a host of different kinds of IP problems that DoD and the defense industrial base have to work through…

LockMart claims to have developed the algorithms designed to sort and manage flight data on its own, independent of federal funding. The government claims that the algorithms were produced as part of a government contract. Given that the data and the algorithms that massage the data are important to long-term production and sustainment of the F-35, this matters a great deal to both parties. LockMart has lost the first ruling, and is awaiting the result of an additional appeal.  Obviously, money is involved. Control of the algorithms would presumably give LockMart a long-term revenue stream, and would also retain a degree of company control over the program. The impact on the production and deployment of actual aircraft is somewhat less clear, as both LockMart and the Pentagon have disputed the idea that the disagreement has produced delays.