Tag Archives: Business

Trade Fairs in Thailand: Steps to Protect your IP

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icon 13 - TradefairsTrade fairs are an excellent place for European SMEs to introduce their products to South-East Asia and to find suitable business partners, buyers or distributors. With the arrival of the spring there are be many opportunities for European SMEs to participate at various trade fairs in South-East Asia and in Thailand in particular. SMEs planning to participate in trade fairs in Thailand should, however, keep in mind that trade fairs are also excellent places for malicious entities to find ideas to copy. Therefore, European SMEs should have the full knowledge of  how they could protect their business against infringements of their IP rights at trade fairs. Thus in today’s blog post we have chosen to discuss how companies could protect their IP when visiting trade fairs in Thailand. 

Trade fairs are now a well-established part of the business calendar in Thailand, particularly in Bangkok, with a number of high-tech industries represented, as well as areas of the creative sector such as furniture and design. Trade fairs provide foreign businesses with the opportunity to present their innovations and ideas to potential business partners and customers, and allow them to learn from and collaborate with other innovators. There is, however, a risk, in that disclosing your innovations to the public leaves you exposed to other copying and infringement of your IP.

Infringement of innovations may not necessarily be straightforward ‘counterfeiting’ – i.e. exact product, packaging and brand imitation. It is more likely that competitors could be using, intentionally or otherwise, a certain part of your product or innovation. It is therefore advisable to be as diligent as possible and to get to know competitors’ products well. Given this, a practical and realistic approach must be taken when preparing for and attending trade fairs in Thailand. IP owners must also be patient and pragmatic, as it is unlikely that immediate action can be taken against an infringer. There are, however, steps that IP owners can take before, during and after the event to best protect their IP. Continue reading “Trade Fairs in Thailand: Steps to Protect your IP” »

Protecting your IP while Transferring Technology to China

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Manufacture4Since China’s market for clean technologies offers significant business opportunities for the European SMEs, then in this week, the EU Gateway Business Avenues took selected European companies to Beijing, China for a business mission in Clean Technologies. Many of these companies are considering bringing their technology to China, which however,  involves many IP risks. Therefore, in today’s blog post, we have chosen to discuss IP issues relating to technology transfer. The blog post offers some tips on how to safely bring your technology to China. 

Many European Companies are keen to come to China. While in the past, European companies came to China to take advantage of low-cost manufacturing for export, more recently, they have come to enter the Chinese domestic market, establish R&D, engage in cooperative development, take advantage of a skilled work force, establish suppliers, and develop long-term partnerships in China. In order to achieve this, they are often willing to ‘transfer’ their key technology and designs to Chinese subsidiaries of European firms, joint-venture (JV) partners, or Chinese manufacturing and service companies. One of the challenges facing European companies coming to China is devising creative solutions to minimize the risk to their intellectual property (IP) associated with such technology transfers.

A technology transfer happens in a number of different ways. European companies most commonly transfer their technology by licensing their patents, designs, software, trade secrets, and know-how. Ownership of the technology may be transferred, but this type of transfer is less common. A common misconception is that a technology transfer is limited to transfers of high technology. However, many European companies using contract manufacturing to manufacture low technology, consumer, or industrial products, for example based on product designs, must deal with many of the same risks to their IP as their high technology counterparts. Continue reading “Protecting your IP while Transferring Technology to China” »

Trade Fairs: Tips for Better Protection of IP Rights

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Trade fairs in China and South-East Asia are a good opportunity for European SMEs to introduce their product to a new market and to find potential partners, distributors and suppliers. However, there are many IP-related risks such as revealing IP assets to potential counterfeiters, when SMEs are attending trade fairs. Thus, SMEs should take specific steps such as registering their IP when going to trade fairs in order to protect their assets. In today’s blog post we have chosen to share with you an infographic explaining to European SMEs what steps they can take before, during and after trade fairs to protect their valuable IP.  

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Using Contracts to Protect your IP in South-East Asia: NDAs and Employment Contracts

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MP900438585IPR protection is an essential part of SMEs’ business strategy and it often defines the success of the business. Thus, it is very important for the SMEs to be aware of all of the possibilities to protect their IP. In today’s blog post we are taking a closer look at IP protection with different contracts and agreements. More specifically,  we are discussing Non-Disclosure Agreements and Employment Agreements, which can be used as preemptive measures to deter possible infringers from violating SMEs’ IP rights. 

There are many ways in which intellectual property (IP) owners should protect their valuable assets. Perhaps the most apparent ways are to register the IP in relevant jurisdictions and then enforce that IP right against infringing third parties. There is, however, a very practical and pre-emptive way of protecting IP on a commercial level. SMEs should also think about protecting their IP with different contracts like non-disclosure agreements, memorandums of understanding and employment contracts.

A large proportion of the value of business is derived from IP due to its presence in SMEs’ everyday business. IP can create value and revenue in a number of ways: it can be sold or licensed, contributed as capital in a joint venture, offered to enter into strategic alliances, integrated with a current business, or used to create a new business. The people and companies that SMEs do business with, and therefore contract with, will often use SME’s IP to varying degrees. When doing business that involves IP, there are two key points to bear in mind: always use written contracts wherever possible and ensure that, where relevant, that company’s IP is covered in those agreements.

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) and Confidentiality Agreements

Ensuring non-disclosure and confidentiality is important for any type of deal—not only for technology, IP and trade secret matters which may be the core part of the deal, but also for business strategies, new product ideas and financial and accounting information, all of which are likely to be useful in deciding whether a deal will go forward. Non-disclosure and confidentiality undertakings are enforceable in South-East Asia, provided that they are reasonable and fair and do not violate the public interest. Normal Western-style confidentiality undertakings setting out the agreed terms of what constitutes the “confidential information” and what does not, acknowledgement of proprietary interest in the confidential information and penalties for unauthorized disclosure, etc., are also common in Southeast Asia. Continue reading “Using Contracts to Protect your IP in South-East Asia: NDAs and Employment Contracts” »

Agribusiness in the Philippines: Protecting New Plant Varieties

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MC900449051Underpinned by goverment’s support, the agriculture sector is rapidly growing and modernizing in the Philippines. This offers lucrative business opportunities for European agribusinesses as their technology becomes in high demand. However, IPR violations like counterfeiting are still a major problem in the Philippines and thus European SMEs need to have a robust IPR protection strategy in place when planning to do business in the Philippines. Today’s blog post is taking a look at the new plant varieties protection, something that is of utmost importance to agribusinesses engaged in breeding plants. SMEs will learn what they can do to protect their new plant varieties in the Philippines and how to enforce their rights in case of an infringement. 

The agricultural sector is a major part of the Philippines economy: it makes up around 11% of GDP and employs about a third of the country’s workforce. The Philippines is home to a wide variety of indigenous agricultural products and constitutes a fertile environment that can host a diverse range of plant varieties. There also exists a large a gap in the application of innovative farming practices and the use of new specialised plant varieties, partly highlighted by the Philippines joining the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) which is now driving producers to adopt new practices to compete with imports and achieve profitable exports. Furthermore, the Philippines Agribusiness Strategy aims at transforming and upgrading the agriculture sector from traditional farming to agribusiness or industrial clusters to take advantage of opportunities in rubber, coconut, mangoes, bananas, coffee, palm oil, cacao, and other emerging high value crops[1].

Although, the Philippines is more popularly known for the production of regional tropical fruit (it is the world’s largest producer of both coconuts and pineapples), the Philippines has historically played a significant role in agricultural innovations. The International Rice Research Institute is based in Los Baños, Laguna, and took a prominent role in the development of new high-yield rice varieties during the Green Revolution, with the country now standing as the eighth largest producer in the world[2]. However, in recent years private enterprise has increasingly been the source of innovation and accordingly the need for adequate protection of innovations has been a growing concern. Continue reading “Agribusiness in the Philippines: Protecting New Plant Varieties” »