South-East Asia IPR Basics Series: Industrial Designs in Vietnam

Having looked at Vietnamese patent law earlier this week, we thought we’d round off the week with a look at how industrial designs are protected in Vietnam.

Industrial designs are important to any manufacturer who relies on the physical appearance of their products to attract customers and entice potential buyers to choose their offering over the competition.

As such, features protectable as industrial designs can be used both purely as a form of aesthetic enticement, as well as a way of identifying your products, helping them stand out amongst a myriad of similar goods.

As always, if you have any questions, just ask!

F&B

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Be IProtected: Cecile’s story – Part 1

Cecile manages a small European enterprise designing state of the art, environmentally friendly and beautifully designed public sanitation solutions. This month, we had a chance to discuss the company’s future plans and IP protection strategy with her.

Cecile first heard about the China IPR SME Helpdesk and its services when she attended one of our events during the 2014 Mission for Growth in Chengdu, China. She was interested to hear how to protect her company’s brand and designs in the Chinese market at this initial stage of her company’s internationalisation.

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Industry Special: Chinese IPRs for GNSS Technologies

shutterstock_245934913Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are essential for the operation of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Location Based Services (LBS) which we take for granted every day.

We use these systems every day, whether we’re looking for the nearest Starbucks on our smartphone, tracking package deliveries online, or using our GPS to get to the family Christmas gathering on time.

This article gives an outline of the IPRs relevant to all forms of GNSS tech, from chipsets to application software, which are essential to any company looking to exploit China’s ever expanding GNSS market.

If you have any further questions however, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our Helpdesk experts, for free, tailored advice to suit your needs.

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China’s Smartphone Addiction and IPR for App Developers

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8585049088_9d1dbcdf1f_kIn 2014 China’s iOS App downloads surged with a 30% increase in quarterly downloads between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015. This rapid growth, stimulated by the release of the iPhone 6 and heavy investment in Apple’s retail presence in the country, has pushed China to the top spot for App downloads worldwide[1].

Asia is leading a mobile revolution, replacing older, less transportable technologies with a ‘mobile-first’ tech culture. Smartphone penetration in China is far deeper than anywhere in the West, many new users skipping desktop computing entirely in their adoption of smartphones and tablets[2]. In China alone it is estimated that there are more than 700 million active smartphones and there is still potential for further growth as lower cost alternatives increasingly cater for the lower end of the market.

These statistics, coupled with recent developments in Chinese mobile user payment structures makes China a very attractive market for existing and potential app developers, with content creators flocking to take advantage of the newly minted market.

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South-East Asia IPR Basics Series: Trade Marks in Singapore

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4456318373_3de7f12009_zSouth East Asia is one of the world’s fastest growing markets, with several strong emerging economies and rapid development across a wide number industrial sectors throughout the region.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be writing a series of guides to the current state of play in the various jurisdictions’ IPR frameworks and the procedures through which SMEs can gain protection for their intellectual property, and, where necessary, enforce their rights.

We’ll be starting the series with Singapore, with perhaps the most developed IP legal system in place and one of the freest and most competitive economies in the world.

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