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General Motors Corp. (GM) said Wednesday it would make sure any potential buyer for its European Opel/Vauxhall operations would have access to the company's patents, addressing a potential barrier to a sale of the brands.

"Any intellectual property would be fully available to Opel/Vauxhall and the new owner," GM spokesman Chris Preuss told Dow Jones Newswires.

GM Europe is nearly out of cash, and GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said last week the company was willing to sell a majority stake in Opel/Vauxhall as part of an effort to win EUR3.3 billion in aid from Germany and other European governments.

Its comment on the patents follows recent comments from a German government official that GM has sold its Opel intellectual property to the U.S. government.

GM said patents for all of its brands, belong to a U.S.-based division of the company called the Global Technology Organization.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel cited the uncertainty over the patent ownership in an interview Wednesday with Bild, a daily newspaper. She also said any commitment to aid the auto maker hinged on what level independence an Opel with new investors would have from GM.

A German official last week told Dow Jones Newswires that GM doesn't own Opel patents following the sale of the rights to the U.S. Treasury, adding that the company aimed to repurchase them at a later stage.

GM's Preuss declined to comment on whether GM has put up any of its patents up as collateral for the U.S. government loans keeping GM afloat.

However, he said GM would ensure any new majority shareholder in Opel would have access to the intellectual property.

- By Sharon Terlep, Dow Jones Newswires; 248-204-5532; sharon.terlep@dowjones.com.