Monthly Archives: March 2017

IPR Protection in Singapore for Contemporary Design Industry

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Singapore designSince Singaporean design market offers interesting opportunities for European SMEs, 40 selected companies recently took part of the EU Gateway Business Avenues mission to Singapore, where they met with local companies in the context of the International Furniture Trade Fair that took place at the Singapore Expo just last week. As IP protection is the key to successful new business endeavors abroad, then in today’s blog post, we have chosen to discuss IP protection issues in the contemporary design industry in Singapore. You will learn what you need to do in order to ensure that your product design is protected in Singapore. 

Market Opportunities for European SMEs in Singapore

Underpinned by the efforts of the Singapore’s government to promote a shift to a high-tech creative economy in the industrial design and lifestyle sectors, Singapore is rapidly becoming a contemporary design hub, operating as a gateway to the whole Asian region. Being present in Singapore’s market, would also give European SMEs an easy access to the rest of Asia.

The domestic market of Singapore is also very promising for European SMEs in design sector. Changes in lifestyle across business and consumer segments have increased the demand for high quality products and new design solutions, which offers many business opportunities to European designers. Furthermore, increasing awareness and appetite for eco-friendly solutions amongst Singaporean increasingly affluent middle class offers lucrative business opportunities for European SMEs specialized in eco-design and new design solutions.

Promising business opportunities for European SMEs are also expected in the long run, as the demand for higher quality retail consumption is expected to grow steadily in Singapore. Forecasts show that over one-third of Singapore households will earn more than €135,000 by 2018[1]. Continue reading “IPR Protection in Singapore for Contemporary Design Industry” »

How to Identify and Deal with IP Scams in China: Threat from Third Party Scam

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SCAMIn recent years, European SMEs have received more and more IP scam e-mails  warning them that someone else is wishing to register their trade mark in China and that urgent action is needed. Some SMEs have also fallen victim to these e-mails and have ended up losing quite substantial amounts of money. Therefore, in today’s blog post, we have chosen to discuss how to identify and deal with IP scams in China. The blog post will concentrate on one of the most popular e-mail  scam – ‘threat from the third party scam’. 

With more and more European SMEs having awareness of the importance of IP and the necessity of IP registration in China, their needs of IP services is increasingly growing. As stated in China’s IP laws, foreigners need to hire local Chinese agencies to file for registration of IP rights and attend to other trade mark or patent related matters such as prosecution, invalidation, renewal etc. Therefore, there is a vast market for IP services involving foreign businesses which in turn is attracting more and more local IP businesses to join this lucrative market.

However, the quality and level of services offered by practitioners differ significantly. Coupled with the lack of sufficient translation of key information on obtaining IP rights and registration procedures, this made it very easy for some agencies, lacking in professional ethics to devise various scams to trick foreign companies or use irresponsible methods to attract customers. Thus it is very important that the European SMEs would be able to distinguish IP scams and know where to find the correct information on IP services and what action can be taken to avoid or mitigate scams. Continue reading “How to Identify and Deal with IP Scams in China: Threat from Third Party Scam” »

Using Contracts to Protect your IP in South-East Asia: Licensing and Technology Transfer Agreements

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Page 1. ContractsMany companies wishing to do business in  South-East Asia choose to license their IP to third parties in order to be able to expand their business ever more rapidly and conveniently. Well-drafted licensing and technology transfer agreements are the key to a successful business endeavor in South-East Asia and thus, we have chosen to discuss the art of drafting these contracts in today’s blog post. This blog post will provide you with some useful tips and watch-outs to keep in mind when drafting contracts with your partners in South-East Asia. 

IP can create value and revenue to the European SMEs through IP commercialization via licensing the IP to third parties. A company that owns rights in a patent,  but cannot or does not want to be involved in the manufacturing of products, can benefit from licensing their IP assets to third parties who have better manufacturing capacity, wider distribution outlets or greater local knowledge. Furthermore, licensing trade marks can allow companies to expand their operations into new markets faster and more effectively as the companies can benefit from the wider distribution networks and contacts that the licensees have.

The people and companies that SMEs do business with, and therefore contract with, will often use the European SMEs IP to varying degrees. Therefore, it is also very important for the European SMEs to protect their IP well-written licensing and technology transfer contracts. In this article we will take a look at licensing and technology transfer agreements. Continue reading “Using Contracts to Protect your IP in South-East Asia: Licensing and Technology Transfer Agreements” »