WIPO's SME UPDATE - December 2001
By the SMEs Division of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Items:
1) News
2) Useful Links
3) WIPO Activities
4) Best Practices
5) Case studies
1) NEWS
SPANISH WEB SITE
- The Spanish version of WIPO's SME Web site will be launched by 20 December
2001. The web site contains over 100 pages of basic information on intellectual
property for SMEs, investors and policy-makers. It is written in a simple
language providing short answers to common business questions on intellectual
property. The Spanish version of the WIPO SME web site will be available at:
http://www.wipo.int/sme/es/
COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH KIPO
- Dr. Kamil Idris, the Director General of WIPO, and Mr. Lague Leem, the
Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, signed a cooperation
agreement on November 19, 2001. One of the priority fields for cooperation is
the promotion of the protection of intellectual property among small and
medium-sized enterprises. More on the agreement on the KIPO web site:
http://www.kipo.go.kr/ehtml/eWht21.html . An overview of KIPO's policy towards
SMEs is available at: http://www.kipo.go.kr/ehtml/eNewD02.html
ACADEMY OF APPLIED SCIENCE
- The web sites of the Academy of Applied Science and the Patent, Trademarks
and Copyright (PTC) Research Foundation, the Academy's intellectual property
education and research component, have been revised recently. The Academy is an
informative resource for SMEs with an intense focus on intellectual property,
creativity, nurturing of inventors and small business innovators, and ongoing
efforts to spark the interest of young people towards careers in science and
technology.
- The Academy's Young Inventors Program and other youth science projects reach
many thousands of future innovators and entrepreneurs. Closely affiliated with
the United Inventors Association, the Academy works to educate inventors,
entrepreneurs and SMEs, and to facilitate their access to, and active use of,
IP systems. For more information, see: www.aas-world.org www.uiausa.org
www.jshs.org
- A powerful resource for gaining a greater understanding of the IP systems of
the world can be found in the PTC Research Foundation's web-based, interactive
IP Journal. This Journal, the first of its kind, is likely to be of particular
value to SMEs in that it provides concise digests of current trends in IP in
addition to in-depth research and debate. See: www.ptcforum.org
2) USEFUL LINKS
FUND FOR THE PROMOTION OF INVENTIONS AND INNOVATION
- The Fund for the Promotion of Inventions and Innovation (FAPI) aims to
promote innovation among African SMEs and assist them in the protection of
their innovative ideas. FAPI currently operates within the African Organization
for Intellectual Property (OAPI), the regional IP office for French-speaking
African countries, and caters to SMEs and inventors from the OAPI member
states. Following the pilot phase, FAPI intends to become an independent
institution aiming to assist innovative enterprises in various aspects relating
to the innovation process. For more information on FAPI, its objectives, main
components and beneficiaries of the Fund's resources, see:
http://oapi.wipo.net/projetfapi.html
FINANCING INNOVATION
- The Web site on Financing Innovation of the European Commission's
Innovation/SMEs Programme offers a series of useful guides on "How to prepare a
technology business plan", "Financing Innovation - A guide to sources" and a
number of other information sources for innovative SMEs operating within the
European Union. See: http://www.cordis.lu/finance/home.html
RESEARCH ON IP AND SMEs
- One of the most comprehensive research projects on the use of the
intellectual property system by SMEs was conducted in the UK under the
sponsorship of the Economics & Social Research Council, the Department of Trade
and Industry and the Intellectual Property Institute. An overview of the
findings of the studies is available at: http://info.sm.umist.ac.uk/esrcip/
PHILIPPINE TRADEMARK DATABASE
- Early this year the Philippines Office of Intellectual Property launched its
new web site http://ipophil.gov.ph/ . Among the additions to the web site is
the inclusion of the Philippine Trademark Online Search System which enables
users to conduct a simple and user-friendly search on the IPO's trademark
database containing 115,506 registered and pending trademark records. The
trademark database may be access through the IPO web site or directly at:
http://ipophilippines.gov.ph/teams/
3) WIPO ACTIVITIES
STRATEGIES FOR ASSISITING SMEs IN LATIN AMERICA
- Programs and strategies for assisting Latin American SMEs to use the
intellectual property system was one of the central issues discussed in the
Meeting of Heads of Industrial Property Offices of Latin America in Quito
(Ecuador) on 5 and 6 November 2001. The document "WIPO and Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises" contains a description of WIPO's initiative for SMEs
as well as an overview of the current situation in Latin America in terms of
the provision of IP services to SMEs. The document is available (currently only
in Spanish) at: http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/documents/pdf/pymequito.pdf
COOPERATION WITH CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
- Cooperation between WIPO and public and civil society organizations in
Central and Eastern European countries for the delivery of IP services to SMEs
was discussed at the Summit Economic Forum of the Central European Initiative
on November 22, 2001, in Trieste (Italy). WIPO's paper for the Forum is
available at: http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/documents/pdf/cei.pdf
4) BEST PRACTICES
INTELLECUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF SINGAPORE (IPOS)
- Among the range of services offered by the Intellectual Property Office of
Singapore to SMEs there are at least two that merit special attention. Firstly,
the Patent Application Fund which supports 50% of the legal, official and other
related fees incurred in the process of applying for a patent for enterprises
that fulfil a number of basic requisites. Secondly, IPOS' SurfIP web site
(www.surfip.gov.sg) contains a virtual marketplace of inventions as well as an
advanced search facility for consulting patent databases.
For more information see:
http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/index.html?wipo_content_frame=/sme/en/best_practices/singapore.htm
5) CASE STUDIES
FROM INNOVATION TO COMMERCIALIZATION AND BEYOND
- The story of Mandy Haberman is the story of an inventive entrepreneur with a
good idea that managed to bring her innovation to the market and commercialize
it successfully. Voted British Female Inventor of the Year in 2000, Mandy
Haberman has extensively licensed her products to other companies and has
strongly defended her patent rights against infringement. The full case study
is available at:
http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/index.html?wipo_content_frame=/sme/en/case_studies/haberman.htm
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