Welcome Address by Ms Liew Woon Yin, Director General IPOS for the 4th Europe-Asia Patents Information Conference
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Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs
Professor Alain Pompidou, President European Patent Office
Dr Iklla Rahnasto, Vice-President, IP Rights, Nokia Corporation
Distinguished guests from National IP Offices
Honoured speakers
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good morning.
- It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the 4th Europe-Asia Patent Information Conference EAPIC 2006. EAPIC is jointly presented to you by the European Patent Office and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
- Although IPOS and Singapore have had the pleasure hosting other events and conferences, EAPIC is one of special significance to us, as it epitomises and represents key principles and ideas that we espouse.
- EAPIC represents our belief that it is only through greater understanding and sharing of knowledge, that IP systems can be applied to bring value to countries at different stages of development, and to companies at varying stages of growth.
- It is a platform that brings together different ideas from across the globe and a gathering of interested stakeholders – from the national IP offices and IP professionals, to industry users of the patent systems, services providers and academia; on using patent information for business and technology intelligence to drive value and competitive advantage.
- In the area of patents, we simply cannot afford to be parochial. It is a global playing field and you will need the tools and the expertise to be on top of the game. Although Asia is seeing a rapid increase in patent filings, our industries still have a lot to learn in deploying effective strategies and IP management systems for sustainable growth. This is where countries in other parts of the world having played in this field longer can bring us precious lessons. On these, you will no doubt hear from many of our speakers at this conference.
- Singapore is also learning a lot from the experience of others as we continue to develop our tools and services for the benefit of users. In the five years since IPOS started actively promoting IP as a strategic business enabler, our users have also grown more savvy and aware of the value that IP brings to them. They have also become more familiar with the tools and services we provide, to encourage protection of their IP. In 2005, we received 37,883 filings for patents, designs and trade marks in total. The highest percentage increase of 16% for trade mark filings. We also recorded a 57% rise in international trade mark applications filed through Singapore as office of origin under the Madrid Protocol. This increase in filing activity is in part attributed to the various e-filing systems we have put in place to facilitate users’ requirements.
- With increased adoption and awareness, there is also consequent increase in demand for more value-added services. In our next phase of growth, IPOS will be looking into “harmonisation” of its e-services platforms to provide users with a common customer interface across all our Registries.
- Cross-linked databases and services would reflect how IP is actually applied in companies - as a collective whole, rather than separate and distinct ones. Such harmonization may allow for search and applicant tracking across databases; an ambitious project and one that could mean an overhaul of our current system, but would, we believe, result in a more seamless service to our users.
- Last year, at EAPIC 2005, I mentioned that our One Stop First Stop Internet portal on IP, SurfIP will be upgraded this year. I am happy to announce that new services running on SurfIP.com will be available from today. As part of the new private-public collaboration, IPOS has licensed the rights to operate and manage SurfIP.com to a private sector player. The licensing of our successful brand to a private entity with good business acumen will bring about new enhancements to the portal as well as better value added services for the global IP community. We continue to operate as part of public service, SurfIP.gov to ensure that basic IP information services are freely available to all.
- With these new and exciting developments already on their way, we hope EAPIC would provide continued opportunities for us to explore further with other national IP offices, service providers and key users, how we can continue to improve on our value-proposition to all of you.
- I would like to thank Professor Pompidou and the EPO for their continued support of EAPIC and other such knowledge sharing initiatives. We look forward to continued collaboration with the EPO, and other like-minded national offices, to strengthen ties and bring programmes that can benefit all in this region. This event would not have been possible without the strong support of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (Singapore Group), Asian Societies of Licensing Executives Society, Singapore Business Federation and the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association. Finally to our speakers and delegates, thank you for your valuable contribution. I wish you all of you a very fruitful exchange today.
- Thank you.
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