Opening Remarks by Ms Liew Woon Yin at the IPOS IP Task Force and BSA SAM Seminar at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Grand Ballroom, Level 4

Opening Remarks by Ms Liew Woon Yin, Director-General, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore at the IPOS IP Task Force and BSA SAM Seminar on Thursday, 9 December 2004 at 9.15 a.m, at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Grand Ballroom, Level 4

Mr. Jeffrey Hardee, Asia Pacific Vice President and Regional Director of the Business Software Alliance

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning.

Today’s SAM seminar is a milestone event for us. It marks our third and final seminar for 2004 before Singapore’s amended copyright laws comes into effect.
The year 2004 has indeed been an extremely busy and exciting year for IPOS and Singapore. Since July this year, Singapore‘s IP regime has been greatly enhanced to provide better protection and incentives to businesses and IP owners. With the removal of the requirement that trademarks must be visually perceptible, Singapore businesses are now free to innovate in using unconventional marks e.g. unique sounds to brand themselves in the market place. For those in the R & D and technology sectors, the good news is that the Patents Act now compensates patent owners with an extension of term of patent protection, if there has been any delay and if the delay is caused by the Patent office. For the creative industries, Copyright owners have much to celebrate as their copyright works now enjoy a term of protection for 70 years after first publication as opposed to 50 years in the past.
The changes to the Copyright legislation, recently passed by Parliament, will take effect on 1 January 2005. This marks the conclusion of the comprehensive update of Singapore’s IP regime. We are now better poised to becoming a Global IP hub.
You may ask - why do we want to be a global IP hub? In the face of new and unrelenting global challenges, for resource-scarce Singapore, all we can ultimately rely on are three fundamentals –
- the ingenuity of our people,
- the efficacy of our systems, and
- the power of intellectual property.
So for some time now, we have been working hard to foster a strong spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship among our people and to put in place a more pro-enterprise environment. Most importantly, we have been taking IP protection very seriously. That is where IPOS and this recent revamp of our IP laws come in.
And our efforts at promoting IP have not gone unnoticed. In 2002, Singapore was ranked by the World Economic Forum and the Institute for Management Development as number one in Asia for IP protection. Also, in the 2002 to 2003 Global Competitive Report, presented by the WEF, Singapore ranked first in innovation policy. Top marks were given to Singapore for its effectiveness in IP protection, and also to our policies supporting more R&D efforts in the private sector. The WEF also credited us for the effectiveness of our regulations in promoting long-term competitiveness for IP.
But we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. In the face of rapidly changing technology and business trends, our IP laws must be constantly updated to maximise business opportunities for Singapore. It is in this spirit that the changes to the copyright legislation have been enacted. We need to update the rules for the use of copyright materials in the digital domain to better facilitate commerce. These changes will impact both consumers and businesses. Come 1 January 2005, companies that willfully infringe copyright for commercial advantage can face criminal prosecution.
In the case of business software, companies must ensure that they are using only licensed and legal programmes within their business environment. Once the new laws are in place, software non-compliance in a business environment can attract criminal penalties.
Many companies are not aware that under-licensing is also a form of software piracy. For example, they cannot buy one copy of software and install it on many PCs. Companies must ensure that they comply with their software licensing agreements.
While IP owners are given additional protection for their IP, IPOS has been working very closely with the industry and trade associations like the BSA, to educate IP users especially businesses on the copyright law changes. We have conducted many seminars in conjunction with the BSA and the IP Taskforce including industry bodies such as ASME, SiTF, SICC and SBF to tell companies about software asset management (SAM).
SAM uses four simple steps to guide companies to manage their softwares effectively. It allows companies to match softwares to their needs, hence, ensure that you only spend and acquire softwares that you need.
We are also running a series of advertisements to communicate the implications of the new criminal aspects of copyright enforcement in the dailies including the Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu. Businesses can also tune in to FM93.8 every Wednesday morning and evening for the dedicated programme on IP.
Besides educating businesses and encouraging them to practice software asset management, IPOS also looked at practical ways to help companies prepare.
Two surveys were commissioned by IPOS and the IP Taskforce to have a better understanding of the impact of Copyright amendments on Singapore businesses, in particular, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). One of the key findings indicated that businesses would like to see some form of assistance and some awareness programme from the Government to help them prepare for the law change. Participants were also asked to indicate the commonly used softwares essential to ensure a smooth operation.
Resulting from the surveys, we launched an initiative called the Software Licensing Programme or SLP, where we brought together leading software companies like Adobe, Autodesk, Macromedia, Microsoft and Symantec as partners. Under the SLP, these software companies made available special discounted software of up to 40 per cent to Singapore businesses, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises, to help them prepare for the new copyright legislation.
Today, we are pleased to announce that five more players have come on board our SLP. Amongst them is a local SME – SIACAD, who sees the importance of lending assistance to fellow SMEs. With the new players, SIACAD, Borland, Computer Associates, Novell and Sun Microsystem, SLP will have ten vendors offering a good suite of software products with different price ranges to suit your particular needs. Businesses should note that there are both open source and proprietary products in the market. Ultimately, businesses should pick software based on their merits for example, performance, contribution to and value of technology etc and how they maximise business value or minimise risks.
That is why we advocate that businesses should put in place a SAM process if they have not already done so. Maximising return and minimising risks in software is what SAM is all about.
This morning, we have with us Mr. Jimmy Wu from Deloitte & Touche, who will share with you details on how to implement SAM in your organisation. We also have with us my colleague from IPOS, Ms. Elizabeth Cardoza, who will tell you about the changes to Singapore’s copyright legislation and what it means for businesses where computer software is concerned.
Finally, on behalf of the BSA and the IPOS IP task force members, I would like to thank all of you for being here, and I wish all of you a very fruitful and informative seminar.

Thank you.