The Defense Ministry in Berlin said on Saturday that disagreements on intellectual property rights mean Germany, France and Spain have yet to come to an agreement to follow the next steps in the joint fighter jet project, after a deadline to find a solution ran out.

Last week, Germany and France’s Defense Ministers set a deadline for end of April to conclude a deal on Europe’s largest defense project, the Future Combat Air System ( FCAS).

“No agreement over the use of the intellectual property rights has been found yet,” a ministry spokeswoman said. “For Germany, unrestricted access to the results of the jointly financed research is of utmost importance.”

The countries were aiming for an agreement next week, she added.

Costing more than 100 billion euros ($120 billion), the development of the jet brings together Germany, France and Spain.

Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra are involved in the scheme to start replacing France’s Rafale and German and Spanish Eurofighters from 2040.

Berlin’s Defense Ministry spokeswoman said there needed to be an adequate arrangement for the use of intellectual property rights in the jet which respected the interests of all participants in the project.

She said negotiations were continuing and it remained Germany’s goal to present a proposal to the parliament’s budget committee in June.