WIPO SMEs Newsletter August 2009

By the SMEs Division 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. For past issues and information on the activities of the SMEs Division, please visit http://www.wipo.int/sme.

NEWS

IP Training Raising the Bar in Education for Small Business

Small businesses which need to protect their valuable intellectual property (IP) like inventions, brands and designs can now access a new nationally accredited training package. The IP training package is funded by IP Australia, and aimed at giving small businesses the skills to compete in today’s knowledge-based economy.

Thai Version of Secrets of IP for Small and Medium sized Exporters Published

The Department of Intellectual Property of the Government of Thailand with the support of WIPO has published the Thai translation of the joint WIPO ITC publication entitled, “ Secrets of Intellectual Property: A Guide for Small and Medium-sized Exporters”.

The translation and/or customization of the publications of SMEs Division may be authorized as per the outlined procedures. An interested party may send a communication to Mr. Guriqbal Singh Jaiya, Director, SMEs Division by email at guriqbal.jaiya@wipo.int. Technical and financial assistance would be offered to credible proposals received from national IP offices, copyright administrations, and SME support institutions. Preference would be given to proposals received from institutions in developing and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as well as countries-in-transition to a market-oriented economy in Europe and Asia. Some examples of national translations and/or customizations may be seen here.

CASE STUDY

Benefiting from Technological Innovation Through Patent Strategy: A Case Study of A Textile Company in China

Liu Ju, Xiao Yan-Gao, Liu Jing deal with the benefits of a patent strategy for leveraging technological innovation of a Chinese textile company in a underdeveloped region of the country. The authors conclude, among other things, that technological innovation is the most significant source of the company’s eight years of high-speed growth and that its patent strategy played an important role to eliminate competitors, to guarantee the company’s benefit from its technological innovation, to obtain and keep the company’s leading position among China’s fiber manufacturers.

RESEARCH

The Swiss Federal Institute of IP publishes two new research reports on IP and SMEs

Economic Focus Study on SMEs and Intellectual Property in Switzerland (pdf 1.3 MB)
Case Studies on SMEs and Intellectual Property in Switzerland (pdf 1.9 MB)

On the increased significance of intellectual property in German SMEs and the decreased importance of tangible goods.( In German)

http://www.bmwi.de/Dateien/Patentserver/PDF/volkswirtschaftliche-bedeutung-geistigen-eigentums-endbericht,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf

Patents and the regress of useful arts

Patent systems are often justified by an assumption that innovation will be spurred by the prospect of patent protection, leading to the accrual of greater societal benefits than would be possible under non-patent systems. However, Andrew W. Torrance and Bill Tomlinson suggest that little empirical evidence exists to support this assumption.

The Use and Value of IP Rights

In the present paper, prepared for the UK IP Ministerial Forum on the Economic Value of Intellectual Property, 10 June 2009, Bronwyn H. Hall reviews the various ways these rights are used today, to draw some lessons for policy, and to suggest areas where further research is needed. The paper focuses on patents, arguably the most important form of intellectual property for business firms, although other rights are discussed to the extent that they substitute for patents in various contexts.

A Great Wall of Patents: What is behind China's recent patent explosion?

Using a firm-level data set that spans the population of China's large and medium-size industrial enterprises, Albert Guangzhou Hu and Gary H. Jefferson explore in this paper the factors that account for Chinas rising patent activity. They find evidence of a strong link between stronger patent protection and innovation in Chinese industry.

India ’s Journey Toward an Effective Patent System

Bruce Abramson discusses the steps that India must still take to develop an effective, functioning patent system capable of attracting foreign direct investment, motivating domestic innovation and education, and filtering its benefits to all elements of Indian society, including the poor and the possessors of traditional knowledge in this World Bank Policy Research Paper.

LINKS

Videos on IP

The Summit TV Intellectual Property Show takes a look at emails and the threat they may pose to information security in organisations with James Blake from Mimecast. This is the 32 ^nd episode.

How to Guard Your Trade Secrets (and Why You Must)

In this feature, Mark Grossman says that trade secrets are key to the survival of any business, but if you aren't careful, modern technologies like BlackBerrys and USB drives (or loose lips) can help them walk right out the door - and without a well-written contract, you may have little legal recourse

Refocusing Knowledge and Intellectual Property Management within the UK Nuclear Industry

The UK Government expects many advantages to accrue from the recent restructuring of the UK nuclear industry. For the maximum benefit to be realized, knowledge must be shared not only between the sites now owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, but also with the collective subcontract chain. A key element of this approach is the addition of intellectual property and knowledge management criteria to existing decision making processes, governance structures and competencies.

File-Sharing and Copyright

In this essay, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf ask whether new technology has undermined the incentives of authors and entertainment companies to create, market and distribute new works and conclude that that file sharing did not discourage authors and publishers.

3 Factors any Business Plan Should Consider Before Filing a Patent Application

In this short article, Andrew P. Lahser, concludes that to protect technology, “eventually, you will need to choose between trade secret protection and patent protection.”

Intellectual Property Rights in Nanotechnology

In this article, Behfar Bastani and Dennis Fernandez write about the protection of nantechnology by intellectual property rights and some of the challenging issues surrounding the acquisition of IP rights in this area.

Protection of Intellectual Property by Manufacturing Firms in Canada

In this study Petr Hemel investigates how the utilization of intellectual property rights (IPRs) by Canadian manufacturing firms is related to the firms’ characteristics, activities and competitive strategies, and to the industry sector in which they operate.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Seventh Annual WIPO Forum on Intellectual Property and small and medium-sized enterprises for Intellectual Property Offices and other relevant institutions in the Organization for Economic cooperation and development (OECD) countries (Geneva, WIPO Headquarters (September 14 and 15, 2009)

The World Intellectual Property Organization is organizing the Seventh Annual Forum on Intellectual Property and SMEs for IP Offices and relevant institutions in the member countries of the OECD. The Forum will be held in Geneva, WIPO Headquarters on September 14 and 15, 2009. Please see the provisional program [ DOC].

The aim of the Forum is to provide an open and interactive platform to share experiences and views on matters concerning intellectual property for industry and business; in particular, the participants will discuss:

IP related key issues of relevance to entrepreneurship and competitiveness of SMEs;

Outreach activities, technical assistance programs, services and products, as well as best practices on effective us of IP by innovators, creators, entrepreneurs and SMEs;

Possibilities for cooperation and partnership in the outreach and capacity building activities for greater and more effective use of the IP system by the enterprise sector, especially micro enterprises and SMEs.

Participants, or their sponsoring institutions, have to finance fully their travel and accommodation costs to attend the Forum. Those interested in participating in the program may contact Mr. Marco Marzano de Marinis, SMEs Division, WIPO via the WIPO contact form.

NOTE:

The SMEs Division 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.

If you have received this newsletter from someone and would like to subscribe yourself, then simply send an e-mail to sme@wipo.int with "subscribe" as the subject, and indicate your language preference (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese or Russian).

The past issues of this newsletter, since August 2001, may be accessed here.