Global heads of IP offices reveal their challenges in the digital economy

The heads of IP offices from the US, Singapore, China and Japan shared their visions for the future of IP offices and discussed the technology challenges that they are tackling, at the Global Forum on IP at IP Week in Singapore.

Andrei Iancu, director of the USPTO, highlighted the importance of democratising data and the use of big data technology to improve on the visualisation and providing of real time data. Open data initiatives, user friendly interfaces and comprehensive data sets through innovations such as application programming interfaces can empower all actors in the innovation system. He also believes that in the path to enable innovation and entrepreneurship, there are no wealthy countries with weak patent rights and no poor countries with strong patent rights. Iancu stressed the importance of ensuring a strong patent system that is reliable and enforceable with no discriminatory rights. “It’s important for IP organisations to not just to register trade marks and grant patents, but to educate and evangelise the importance of IP in the economy,” said Iancu.

Dr Shen Changyu, commissioner of the National Intellectual Property Administration of the PRC, highlighted recent central government level initiatives in China, including the 2014-2020 action plan on further implementing national IP strategy and IP initiatives under the 13^th five-year plan (2016). With 1.103 million valid invention patents and rising, the need to step up on law enforcement is increasingly important. Through the restructuring of the IP office, now renamed CNIPA from SIPO, in addition to better enforcement, Shen aims to encourage more technological exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises as well as more efficient examinations. The new CNIPA will have 12,000 patent examiners and 1,200 trademark examiners.

Daren Tang, chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, highlighted the shift of economic and enterprise growth in Singapore where innovations are becoming globalised. In addition to increasing the efficiency of registries and making IP more credible and customer friendly, Tang believes that IP organisations have a role to play to ensure the economy can cater to businesses with increasingly more intangible assets. “It’s important to align capabilities to support businesses going from the current economy to the future economy. For example, the banking system is not aligned to enterprises creating intangible assets when lending is done against collateral,” said Tang. “The current ecosystem is biased towards production conglomerates, but we need to reimagine institutions towards future enterprises that are based on ideas, rather than physical assets.”

David Lossignol, president-elect of the International Trademark Association, shared that – in the face of more globalised supply chains and vulnerabilities of counterfeiters – strong laws, efficient registration and protection mechanisms are essential tools for brand owners. However, citing a February 2018 CB Insights study, Lossignol noted that 90% of start-ups fail because of a lack of knowledge of IP. To ensure that IP policies are evolving in the face of disruptive innovations such as virtual reality, internet of things and wearable technology, INTA establishes teams to focus on specific issues and create dialogue among IP organisations, brand owners and regulators to tackle issues quickly. His vision for INTA is to educate the young generation on the importance of respecting IP rights and how that extends to innovation.  

To encourage an economy of start-ups, especially for young people, Naoko Munakata, commissioner of the Japan Patent Office, shared that the JPO has been working hard to ensure that start-ups can get patents as quickly and efficiently as possible. “We understand that typically there are 12-18 months between the first and second rounds of funding for start-ups and in order to secure the second funding round to survive, there is a need for speed,” said Munakata. She noted that applicants can expect first responses within a month of a patent application and two to three months to obtain a patent to ensure that the IP can be used straight away. Looking ahead, the JPO is working hard to revise its Design Act, including proposals to protect designs of shapes, patterns and colours of brand images. This is yet another way of demonstrating the JPO’s desire to make IP protection more user-friendly and applicable to users’ evolving needs.