WIPO SMEs Newsletter September 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
Tech Giants Discover the Great Value of Patents
Patents rarely make headlines, but they did last month when Nortel Networks Corp., the defunct
Canadian telecommunications giant, auctioned off its patent portfolio and drew an astonishing
winning bid of $4.5 billion from a group of companies that includes Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
The sale marks a watershed in the maturity of intellectual property markets and a dramatic shift in
strategy for technology companies. Suddenly, these companies are acknowledging that
patents
are a strategic asset worth billions.
The UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions: Supplement on Security Rights in Intellectual Property
The
Guide
was officially released this month by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
(UNCITRAL). The overall objective of the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions (the
Guide) is to promote low-cost credit by enhancing the availability of secured credit. In line with
this objective, the Supplement on Security Rights in Intellectual Property (the Supplement) is
intended to make credit more available and at a lower cost to intellectual property owners and
other intellectual property rights holders, thus enhancing the value of intellectual property
rights as security for credit.
Guide to WIPO Services: Helping you protect inventions, trademarks & designs, resolve domain names and other IP disputes
The
Guide to WIPO
Services gives a brief overview of WIPO’s global IP services, in particular the PCT, Madrid and
Hague systems and the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. These services provide
efficient, fast and cost-effective means of helping innovators and creators – both corporate and
individual – to protect their inventions, trademarks and designs in multiple countries, and also to
resolve IP disputes, including those involving domain names.
TRAINING/LEARNING RESOURCES ON IP ASSET MANAGEMENT
General Information on Training of Trainers Program, the SMEs Division, WIPO
The SMEs Division of WIPO supports the organization of national Training of Trainers (TOT)
Programs in countries that have translated and/or adapted the basic materials on IP for Business
published by the Division. The objective of the TOTs is to create a critical mass of trainers in
the country with enough knowledge and skills to provide assistance to SMEs on effective IP asset
management at a basic level. For more details, please see
here.
IP PANORAMA TM Multimedia Toolkit
The IP PANORAMA
™ multimedia toolkit is now available in English, Arabic, Hungarian, Vietnamese and Thai
versions on or through the
SMEs Division’s website. CD-ROMs of the
English and Arabic versions are also available on request. Anyone interested in receiving a
free copy of the CD-ROM may email
sme@wipo.int , providing the full postal address, including
telephone number, and indicate the purpose for which the CD-ROM would be used.
LINKS
Digital Opportunity – A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth: SMEs and the IP Framework
This review, which was commissioned by the British Prime Minister to Professor Ian Hargreaves,
reviews the risk that the current intellectual property framework might not be sufficiently well
designed to promote
innovation and growth in the UK
economy and suggests some recommendation to overcome the risk. Especially, in the Chapter 9 of
this Review, he confirms that SMEs are not sufficiently well served by those providing advice and
information on IPRs and recommends action to give SMEs access to lower cost IP advice
IP Valuation at Research Institutes: An Essential Tool for Technology Transfer
Focusing on the valuation of technology this introductory publication details why
IP
valuation could be a key tool for research institutes and technology transfer offices.
The publication sets out some of the fundamental methods used to value IP assets and
introduces case study material in the form of a valuation conducted by the Hungarian Intellectual
Property Office.
Trade Mark Incentives
The research, commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), investigates
potential
links between trade mark
activity and the performance of firms in productivity, employment, wages and growth rates. It
found positive correlations between being trade mark active and delivering better performance. For
example, this research,based on the augmented ARD data, suggests that trade marking firms are 21%
more productive than those that do not trade mark.
2010 Annual Report of an SME
This
annual report of InSite Vision can be a good case study of a patent savvy SME.
Five Discovery Skills that Distinguish Great Innovators
In their new book,
The Innovator's DNA
, authors Jeff Dyer, Hal Gergersen, and Clayton M. Christensen build on the idea of disruptive
innovation to explain how and why the Steve Jobses and Jeff Bezoses of the world are so successful.
This excerpt from Chapter One summarizes the five discovery skills that distinguish innovative
entrepreneurs and executives from run-of-the-mill managers.
Patent Statistics on the World Textile Industry and a Look at Germany’s Position
Some studies suggest that the number of patent applications can be used as an indicator to
quantify the potential for innovation of industry sectors such as the textile industry.
This paper shows the
distribution of worldwide economic power and patent applications between 1978 and 2004 in the
textile and textile machinery industry based on the example of Germany. The number of patent
applications from the textile sector is compared to that of other industries. Subsequently, the
patent statistics are broken down into individual enterprises with outstanding numbers of
applications, as well as to individual countries and branches within the textile
industry.
Pirated Textiles Destroyed to Save Local Industry
The Impact of Innovation and the Role of Intellectual Property Rights on US Productivity, Competitiveness, Jobs, Wages and Exports
This
report analyzes the economic impacts of innovation and IP protection on the U.S. economy.
Findings of the report demonstrate innovation is a crucial driver of competitiveness, growth, and
value. Consequently, IP-intensive industries create jobs and spur economic growth as results from
high investments in research and development (R&D).
The Global Analysis of TM Dilution
FOTHCOMING EVENT
ip4inno Virtual Classroom Lessons (VCLs) and Workshops from the EPO This Autumn!
The European Patent Office (EPO) is offering three free VCLs over the internet and three 2-day
workshops this autumn with a selection of topics from over 60 teaching hours of recently updated
material. This popular project is providing business advisors and TTOs with practical IP strategy
training they can use when supporting their own client SMEs, entrepreneurs and start-ups. The
modules cover much more than simply "how to register rights", but rather discuss the business
context in which IP can be commercialised. Modules on IP licensing, valuation, financing and
enforcement provide a complete picture of the role IP plays in protecting and encouraging
innovation.
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/
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
