Lithuania is home to one of the World’s top basketball teams (2nd at the Eurobasket Championships), a thriving amber industry, a multi-lingual population (90% speak one foreign language and 50% two) and this year, the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) Annual Conference.Joanna Drake – Director of SMEs and Entrepreneurship, European Commission – roused the attendees by calling on the EEN’s 600+ business support organisations to be “live-wires” for Europe’s SMEs. The conference organisers also sought to create sparks by giving ample opportunities for the organisations present to network and explore avenues of cooperation.
The ASEAN and China IPR SME Helpdesks certainly took the message seriously with representative Aleksandra Cybulska claiming number one spot as the EEN’s most active participant. A slightly hoarse Aleksandra noted that during meetings, the same two questions kept cropping up: “I’ve been told that if our client SMEs go to China or Asia then their products will be copied and they won’t be able to do anything about it. Is that true?” and “Your services are free? As in, completely free?”
In answer to the first, no. Prevention is better than to cure and so the first step should be to register your intellectual property as trade marks, patents and copyright – the earlier the better. Without registration it would be very difficult to enforce your rights in China should you experience infringement.
As for the second, shocking though it may sound, the answer is a resounding YES. European SMEs and SME organisations can receive China and Southeast Asian IPR information and advice for free from the China and ASEAN IPR SME Helpdesks respectively. These services include training events in Europe and Asia, webinars, guides, E-learning modules and dedicated enquiry helplines. For more information take a look at the websites:
Want to jump-start cooperation with the Helpdesk live-wires??? Get in touch: Aleksandra.cybulska@china-iprhelpdesk.eu
Kinga.katus@china-iprhelpdesk.eu