WIPO SMEs Newsletter April 2014
By the SMEs Section of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
WIPO SMEs Newsletter is a monthly e-publication providing readers with useful intellectual property (IP) information contained in articles, case studies, forthcoming IP/SMEs relevant events, and published presentations featured on our web site. We hope you will find it useful and informative. We encourage you to share the newsletter or items of interest with friends and colleagues. If you have received this newsletter from someone and would like to subscribe yourself, then simply visit our website https://www.wipo.int/sme/en/. Also for past issues and information on the activities of the SMEs Section, please visit https://www.wipo.int/sme.
News
ASEAN SME Policy Index 2014: Towards Competitive and Innovative ASEAN SMEs
This report presents the SME development policies and actions implemented by the ASEAN countries and helps identify strengths and weaknesses in policy design and implementation. It compares the experiences and performance of the 10 countries, measures convergence towards the policy guidelines of the ASEAN Strategic Plan for SME Development (2010-15), and recommends priority reforms.
Estimating UK investment in intangible assets and Intellectual Property Rights
This report estimates (a) the level of UK market sector investment in knowledge assets and (b) the proportions of those investments protected by Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). Estimates for knowledge investment are produced as part of the UK Innovation Index. The main findings are: 1) In 2011 the UK market sector invested £137.5bn in knowledge assets, compared to £89.8bn in tangible assets; 2) Since the recession of 2008-9, intangible investment has recovered and grew in 2010-11. In contrast investment in tangible assets has been flat; 3) In 2011, 48% (£65.6bn) of knowledge investment in the UK market sector was protected by IPRs; 4) The majority of IPR investment is on assets protected by copyright (46%), unregistered design rights (21%) and trademarks (21%).
Economic Impact of Trade Secret Theft
This report focuses on four issues that are critical to understanding trade secret theft and how to improve companies ability to protect their most valuable information: an estimate of trade secret theft across advanced industrial economies; a threat assessment focusing on what threat actors are most active in targeting trade secrets; an original framework for companies to assess the value of their own trade secrets; and a look forward 10-15 years in the future to consider what forces and drivers may make trade secrets more or less secure.
Using intellectual property to raise finance for innovation
Intellectual property (IP) assets such as patents, copyrights, or trademarks can help innovative firms gain access to financing by acting as collateral or security for loans and signaling the quality of a venture to investors. This policy brief identifies policy options to encourage a greater use of IP assets to channel financing into innovation. They include increasing the levels of awareness and use of IP by innovative firms and financiers and reducing transaction costs in IP finance markets.
IP Statistics
WIPO cooperate with intellectual property (IP) offices from around the world to provide stakeholders with up-to-date IP statistics. WIPO also publish statistical reports on worldwide IP activity and on the use of WIPO-administered treaties in the protection of IP rights internationally. Reliable IP statistics are an important tool in understanding trends in business and technology and in the use of the IP system worldwide and across different countries.
Resources on IP Asset Management
IP PANORAMA Multimedia Toolkit
The IP PANORAMA multimedia toolkit is now available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Hungarian, Vietnamese and Thai versions on or through the pages at https://www.wipo.int/sme/en/multimedia/ and http://www.ippanorama.com/.
CD-ROMs of the English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic versions are also available on request. Anyone interested in receiving a free copy of the CD-ROM may email publications.mail@wipo.int providing the full postal address, including telephone number, and indicating the purpose for which the CD-ROM would be used. Please note that requests without complete postal address will not be processed.
Links
Innovation patterns and intellectual property in SMEs of a developing country
Based on empirical results, this article reopens the discussion about the relationship between intellectual property and innovation in developing countries. Intellectual property grants a monopoly over the commercial exploitation of innovations. Ex ante, this monopoly may promote innovation but ex post it may become a disincentive to diffusion and subsequent innovation. After reviewing the terms of the debate in the classical and current literature, the authors address two empirical issues: What patterns of intellectual property behavior coexist among the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of a developing country (Colombia) and how these patterns relate to the innovation performance of these firms?
National Patent and Trademark Office of Colombia reduces official fees by up to 90%
Colombian artisans will benefit the most, with a 90% reduction in trademark application fees. Micro and small Colombian companies will benefit from a 40% reduction in official fees for the registration of product and service marks.
Let small businesses in Latin America prosper
At the business meetings around the Ibero-American Summit in Panama, almost every speaker - presidents and cabinet ministers, business leaders, and development bank presidents - spoke passionately about the need to help small and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America.
Competitiveness in Central America
There is ample evidence that innovation and knowledge are critical to increasing competitiveness and to the success of an export-led growth strategy - a key element for growth and development in the small, open economies of Central America.
In Central America, SMEs provide the vast majority of employment. Estimates for 2009 indicate that SMEs contributed 30 to 50 percent of GDP and 75 to 90 percent of employment. This is because the large majority of SMEs operate in labor-intensive industries [ ] Improving the performance of SMEs and increasing their participation in local and global markets can have enormous and positive consequences for the entire economy.
Innovation Support in Brazil
The Brazilian government is actively engaged in fostering the development of innovation in Brazil through an elaborate system of agencies that can provide financial support (grants and loans) or that are designed to stimulate collaboration, at the regional and national level, between key interlocutors of the private, academic and governmental sectors.
This document is intended to enable the reader to better understand some of the opportunities and challenges involved in conducting research, development and innovation (RDI) activities in Brazil.
Motives to patent: empirical evidence from Germany
Small and medium-sized companies are further disadvantaged in comparison to large companies regarding patenting. They experience not only disadvantages on the cost side due to the relative higher fixed cost they have to bear, but large companies are privileged also on the benefit side. In order to prevent further concentration processes, especially small-and medium-sized companies should be supported in using patents actively as protection and strategic instruments, but also in dealing efficiently with the patent claims of other companies. Furthermore, the quality of the patent system has to be improved in order to secure a high innovative level of granted patents. The more rigorous implementation will reduce the misuse of the patent system by the strategic motivations of large companies.
The Economic Value of the Australian Innovation Patent: The Australian Innovation Patent Survey
Innovation patents were introduced in Australia in 2001 and were designed to be a relatively quick and inexpensive form of intellectual property protection with a lower inventive threshold than that required for a petty patent or standard patent. These features were expected to encourage Australian small to medium business enterprises to develop their incremental inventions and market them in Australia.
Innovation patents were taken up in greater numbers than were petty patents and two previous reviews (one by the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia and one by IP Australia) found that innovation patents were largely used by individuals and small to medium business enterprises. After reviewing available data on innovation patent use in different fields of technology, and by applicant type, both reviews concluded that the innovation patent system was largely meeting its objectives.
These latest survey findings indicate that, on average, inventors mainly use innovation patents for traditional purposes and the use of innovation patents adds value to their firms. This is indicated by the significant value inventors placed on innovation patents in the survey. These results do not necessarily imply that innovation patents provide a net benefit to the Australian economy as a whole.
Innovation, Patenting and Licensing in the UK: Evidence from the SIPU survey
The canonical economics model of innovation is one where firms undertake R&D to create new products and services. In the simplest rendering of the canonical model, R&D produces an invention, which is (sometimes) patented, and the invention is introduced to the market as a product. The pharmaceutical industry best exemplifies this model. However, both the industry and the model have been under strain in recent years as the scale of R&D and the complexity of products have grown.
Final Report from the Expert Group on Intellectual Property Valuation
According to this report, the Expert Group has demonstrated that it is not the lack of valuation methods per se, or even standards for valuing IP that are missing, but rather other barriers that are having a greater influence on business and lenders. As a consequence, the Expert Group proposes four main policy actions to reduce the identified barriers: Establishing a data source containing information for use by valuation professionals, as a way to enhance credibility of valuations by improving data and available information on IP transactions; Creating an organization to oversee IP valuation practice as a way to increase confidence in the quality of valuations being performed and to ensure that valuations are in line with generally accepted principles and standards; Introducing a risk sharing scheme for banks to facilitate IP secured lending to innovative companies, especially SMEs; Introducing an additional reporting section for intangible assets and IP that would increase the transparency of IP value within company accounts, providing important information to lenders, investors and stakeholders.
Ministry of MSME India proposes to set up Rs. 10,000 crore fund for technology acquisition and support
The ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises has proposed to set up a fund for technology acquisition and support to assist the indigenous technology and acquisition of global technology by the India MSMEs. To this effect, a Technology Development Fund of Rs.10,000 crore [1.66 million USD] is proposed for supporting MSMEs to undertake technology upgradation, acquisition, adaptation and innovation to enable them to move up the value chain.
Forthcoming Events
Seminar on WIPO Services and Initiatives, May 5-6, 2014, Rome, Italy
The Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM) and WIPO will organize a Seminar on WIPO Services and Initiatives, in Rome on May 6, 2014. The event will be hosted at the headquarters of the Italian Chamber of Commerce (Unioncamere) thereby highlighting the strong focus on the use of WIPO services by Italian corporations and SMEs. The seminar is free of charge. However, participants are encouraged to register online with UIBM at: http://www.uibm.gov.it/index.php/i-marchi-50/media-e-comunicazione-dirgen/news-dir-gen/2007523-06-05-2014-roma-giornata-mondiale-della-proprieta-industriale-seminario-dal-titolo-wipo-services-and-initiatives
For more information, please visit https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=32943
WIPO Workshop for Mediators, May 22-23, 2014, Geneva, Switzerland
The significant time and cost that can be associated with court proceedings are increasingly causing parties to look for alternative ways of settling their disputes. Mediation is an extension of direct negotiations between the parties to a dispute, conducted with the aid of a neutral intermediary, the mediator. It is the preferred mode of dispute resolution in many of the most important markets of Asia, as well as an increasingly popular method of dispute settlement in the United States of America and in Europe.
As an international resource center in the area of intellectual property mediation and arbitration, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center will offer a Workshop for Mediators in IP Disputes on Thursday, May 22 and Friday, May 23, 2014 at the headquarters of WIPO in Geneva, Switzerland.
he Workshop is held in English and is designed for lawyers, business executives, patent and trademark specialists and others who wish to become familiar with the mediation process and receive training as mediators. Taught by Professor Robert H. Mnookin of Harvard Law School and Professor Gary J. Friedman of the Center for Mediation in Law of Mill Valley, California, the program is based on simulated intellectual property mediation exercises. For more information, please visit https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/events/workshops/2014/mediation/
Note:
The SMEs Section welcomes voluntary contributions of articles, case studies, news items, useful links and relevant information concerning forthcoming events of interest to entrepreneurs and SMEs for inclusion in future issues of this newsletter; contributions may be sent by email to sme@wipo.int.
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