WIPO SMEs Newsletter May 2011
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
World Intellectual Property Day 2011 – Designing the Future
This year’s
World Intellectual Property Dayon
April 26 celebrates the role of design in the market place, in society and in shaping the
innovations of the future. Across the world, IP Offices, associations, businesses and technology
institutions have announced –through the WIPO website or through the
IP Day Facebookpage - numerous
activities to mark the
day, including competitions, exhibitions and public discussions.
Speaking about the role of design, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry described design as “
the language of communication of objects,” helping to communicate both function and
esthetics.
Cybersquatting Hits Record Level, WIPO Center Rolls out New Services
In 2010, trademark holders filed 2,696
cybersquatting cases
covering 4,370 domain names with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) under
procedures based on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), an increase of 28%
over the 2009 level and of 16% over the previous record year, 2008 (annex 1).
Parties took advantage of user-friendly online facilities such as the WIPO-initiated paperless
eUDRP, the Legal Index of WIPO UDRP Decisions, and the Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected
UDRP Questions (WIPO Overview) to assist their case preparation and submission.
The top five areas of WIPO complainant activity were retail, banking and finance,
biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, Internet and IT, and fashion. WIPO’s 2010 caseload featured
well-known names from business and public interest sectors. Most of these cases (82%) concerned
registrations in the .com domain.
International Trademark and Design Filings Recover in 2010
International trademark activity recovered in 2010 with WIPO receiving 39,687 applications
under the 85-member Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks (“
the Madrid system”), representing a
12.8%
rate of growth.
The largest growth was registered from the Republic of Korea (+42.2%), China (+42%), Italy
(+38.7%), United States of America (+29.6%), European Union (+26.9%) and Japan (+20.2%).
Similarly, International design activity saw strong growth in 2010 with WIPO receiving 2,382
applications under the 57-member
Hague Agreement Concerning the International
Registration of Industrial Designs, or a 32.6% increase over the previous year. The number of
registered designs that were filed by applicants from the following countries increased
significantly in 2010 compared to 2009: Germany (+31%), Switzerland (+42%), Turkey (+108%), Austria
(+48%), Spain (+541%), and Luxembourg (+271%). Similarly, international design registrations grew
by 31.8% with a total 2,216 registrations in 2010 (table 1).
WIPO SMEs Chinese Version of Looking Good: An Introduction to Industrial Designs for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
This is now available on the
SMEs
Website
WIPO SMEs Chinese Version of Stitch in Time: Smart Use of Intellectual Property by Textile Companies
This is now available on the
SMEs
Website
Lithuanian Nationally Customized Version of the IP for Business Publication Creative Expression Published
The State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania published the customized version of the
WIPO publication entitled, “
Creative
Expression: An Introduction to Copyright and Related Rights for Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises”.
Armenian Customized Version of the WIPO ITC guide, “Secrets of IP for Exporters” Published
The Intellectual Property Agency of Armenia published the customized
version.
TRAINING/LEARNING RESOURCES ON IP ASSET MANAGEMENT
2nd Annual KIPO-WIPO-KAIST-KIPA Advanced International Certificate Course on IPR & Business Based on IP PANORAMATM Multimedia Toolkit in English
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office
(KIPO), the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and the Korea Invention
Promotion Association (KIPA) are jointly offering the advanced training course on IP and business.
This Course consists of the following three components: 1) Online course; 2) IP essay test;
and 3) Offline course. The Online course, based on the twelve modules of IP PANORAMA in
English, through the
www.ippanorama.com
website, will be organized three times a year: the first session will be from April 20 to May
31, 2011; the second one from June 8 to July 19, 2011; and the third one from July 20 to August 30,
2011. The top 60 students in the three sessions of the Online course will be eligible for the
IP essay test. Up to top 10 students from developing countries in the IP essay test will be
eligible to participate in the Offline course with a scholarship to cover their travel and stay
costs in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from November 8 to 10, 2011. 20 domestic students will also be
provided accommodation in Seoul, if needed. For more details, please see at
www.ippanorama.com
.
General Information on Training of Trainers Program, the SMEs Division, WIPO
The SMEs Division of WIPO is offering the Training of Trainers (TOT) Program in those
countries that have translated and/or adapted the basic materials on IP for Business published by
the Division and are with the objective of creating a critical mass of trainers in the country who
have the basic knowledge, skills and experience to provide preliminary IP assistance to SMEs on
effective IP asset management. For more details, please see
here.
IP PANORAMA TM Multimedia Toolkit
The IP PANORAMA
™ multimedia toolkit is now available in English, Arabic, Thai and Hungarian through the
SMEs Division’s website. The English and
Arabic versions are also available on CD-ROM on request. The learning points (in English) of
theIP PANORAMA
™ multimedia toolkit have recently been uploaded as pdf format files on the website, which
are also available as a separate book. Anyone interested in receiving a free copy of the CD-ROM
and/or book containing the learning points may send an email to
sme@wipo.int providing full postal address, including telephone
number, and the purpose for which the CD-ROM/book would be used.
During this year, we expect to have more language versions of IP PANORAMA including the
French, Spanish, Kiswahili, Vietnamese and Russian.
ARTICLE
Example of APA (Automatic Patent Analysis) APA from a Study of Solar Panels
Patents are a unique source of information for the SMEs. In this paper we analyze the field of
solar panels (to produce warm water) using the world patent database available from the EPO host.
Various analytical techniques are presented from IPC analysis to drawing browsing. We underline in
this study how a small company may find a deep benefice by the systematic usage of patent
information to secure its idea, test the market and boost innovations.
For the full text, please see
here.
LINKS
IP Australia Launches Dream Shield: IP Resources for Indigenous SMEs
The
Dream Shield project
provides important and practical IP information for Indigenous inventors, designers and small
business owners. The resources include stories of Australian Indigenous businesses which have
successfully protected their intellectual property. One of the stories features Aboriginal Elder
John Watson who lost his finger hunting crocodiles with his bare hands. He used a traditional
medicine to numb the pain and stop the bleeding. Inspired by the effectiveness of this traditional
medicine, his community initiated a research partnership with Griffith University, successfully
securing patent protection.
UK Intellectual Property Awareness Survey 2010
According to the
UK Intellectual Property Awareness Survey in
2010 which was recently published by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the UK, small
businesses need to do more to protect and exploit their innovations. The survey resulted in over
1900 replies from firms of all sizes and in all sectors of UK industry. The report also compares
the findings of the present survey with those of the first UK IP Awareness Survey which was carried
out in September 2006. Since the original survey was run in 2006, the basic results from that
survey have been confirmed and little dramatic change that has occurred in the features of IP
awareness, measured. Where there has been change it might be characterized as comprising gradual
and small increases in IP awareness amongst smaller companies whilst at the same time large firms
are showing some signs of a decline in IP awareness particularly where this is linked to features
which involve cost such as external sources of legal advice or the setting up of specialist
departments.
SME Intangible Assets
This report investigates the nature of
SME
intangible assets and the ways in which they are developed, protected and transferred, and,
finally, identifies valuation methodologies. Twenty SMEs of varying size and from different sectors
were initially recruited, interviews undertaken and intangible assets identified and analyzed using
strategy mapping approaches. For most SMEs in this research, intangible assets were created as a
consequence of a range of operational and developmental activities. The pattern that emerges is
that as SMEs grow in size and maturity, accumulated experience and knowledge form the basis of an
increasingly complex set of intangible assets, often reflecting the stage reached in the business
life cycle
The Impact of the Patent System on SMEs
The paper analyzes the theory and evidence on the
propensity of SMEs to patent their
innovations. Drawing on UK, European and US literature and data sources, they show that small
firms are less likely to use patents as a means of protecting their investment than other means
such as confidentiality, secrecy or time to market. SMEs are also less likely than larger firms to
use others’ patents as a source of information for their own innovation activities, preferring
customers, suppliers and trade fairs.
For more information on patent system on SMEs, see also the following links:
Inventing the
Future;
SMEs as Patent
Applicants;
Patent Activities in Biotech
SMEs; and,
Use of Patent Information: Empirical Evidence from
Innovative SMEs.
FOTHCOMING EVENTS
WIPO Arbitration Workshop, October 13-14, 2011 (Geneva, Switzerland)
Arbitration is a procedure in which a dispute is submitted, by agreement of the parties, to
one or more arbitrators who make a binding decision on the dispute. In choosing arbitration,
the parties opt for a private dispute resolution procedure instead of going to court. The
WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center will offer an Arbitration Workshop in Geneva on Thursday,
October 13 and Friday, October 14, 2011. This Workshop will provide intensive basic training
of a practical nature for party representatives in arbitration and for arbitrators, as well as
others wishing to familiarize themselves with the international arbitration process. The
training, which will be conducted by experienced international arbitrators, will focus on the main
principles of international commercial arbitration law and practice, with particular reference to
the practical application of the WIPO Arbitration and Expedited Arbitration Rules (as well as the
WIPO Expert Determination Rules) in intellectual property and technology disputes.
Further information is available at
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/events/
PAST EVENTS
WIPO Regional Training of Trainers Program for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Support
Institutions, March 7 to 10, 2011, Colombo, Sri Lanka
WIPO Training of Trainers Program on Effective Intellectual Property Asset Management by Small
and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), February 21 to 25, 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
More, also at website
MSC
Malaysia
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.
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Copyright (c) 2011 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 34, chemin des
Colombettes, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
