Revised PCT Fee for 2010

The following International Search Authority (ISA) has announced that the search fee for PCT will be revised from 1 January 2010:

Korea KRW 1,300,000 (44% increase) from KRW 900,000, approximately MYR 3,772 from MYR 2,432 for applications filed in English. The official fee announced by MYIPO for November is MYR 3,163. The official fee charged by MYIPO is usually higher than the official search fee to take into account exchange rate risk and bank charges. If the November fee is used as a guide, the estimated search fee in 2010 for Korea is MYR 4,555. The search fee for applications filed in Korean remains the same at KRW 450,000.

The following ISA search fee remains the same.

Australia AUD 1,600 unchanged, approximately MYR 5,076 and officially MYR 5,134 in November.

European Patent Office (EPO) EUR 1,700 unchanged, approximately MYR 8,700 and officially MYR 8,916 in November.

Korea ISA is popular among PCT applicants from Malaysia due to its competitive rate. Applicants from Malaysia have a choice of Australia, EPO or Korea to be nominated as ISA. Other ISA offering competitive search fees are Austria EUR 200 (MYR 1,024), China CNY 2,100 (MYR 1,100), Japan JPY 97,000 (MYR3,770), and Russia RUB 13,500 (MYR 1,583). China signed an MOU with ASEAN this month to increase IP cooperation. We hope that China will be one of the ISA authorized by MyIPO for ISA. We also wonder if MyIPO has any dream to become an ISA someday.

We encourage applicants to file PCT by 31st December 2009 to avoid the fee increase.

DAP gives go-ahead to Rocket cafe

The DAP central executive committee has given its approval to a group of party members and supporters to set up the Rocket United Cafe in SS2/63 here and use the party’s logo on its signboard, said the head of secretariat for the DAP secretary-general’s office, Foo Yueh Chuan.

She said the approval from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) was secured for the cafe’s signboard and business premises on Aug 18, adding that the objective of the cafe was for the party to increase its reach to Malaysians.

“It is also to make available services such as voter registration and the registration for state benefits, such as the Mesra Usia Mas and the Tabung Warisan Anak Selangor,” she said in a statement here yesterday. -The Star

Geox SpA

The founder and president of Italy’s largest footwear brand, Geox SpA, shares about his true calling – designing and marketing shoes.

MARIO Moretti Polegato grew up in a family that had been in the wine business for three generations. He even studied wine technology at the University of Ferrara in Italy.

He is the founder, president and biggest shareholder of Geox S.p.A, Italy’s largest footwear brand and the world’s second largest footwear brand in the lifestyle casual leather shoe category.

The story goes that one day in the 1990s, after he finished promoting his family wine at an exhibition in Reno (not far from Las Vegas), he went for a walk in the desert. To soothe his overheated feet, he used his Swiss knife to cut holes in his sneakers’ rubber soles. That was his eureka moment.

“Later, when I came back to Italy, I introduced a new (shoe) technology. I utilised a special material that we call the membrane, which is water-proof and breathable at the same time because it is made with millions of micro-pores,” Polegato says.

“These pores are smaller than a drop of water. The vapour from our skin is 700 times smaller than a drop of water. So perspiration goes out through the pores but water (from outside) won’t come in.”

Polegato had created the world’s first breathable rubber-soled shoes.

Immediately he patented the technology in Italy, and today he has patented it in other countries as well, covering Europe, Asia and America.

Not everyone shared Polegato’s enthusiasm, however. “I offered this technology to the large footwear companies in Italy, Germany and America, but incredibly, nobody believed in me.”

In the end he decided to produce the shoes himself in Italy.

He spent three years to find a partner and set up Geox in 1995.

Explaining the name, he says Geo is Greek for earth, “because when you’re walking, the best walk is when you walk barefoot – feet on the ground. X is a technology symbol.”

Polegato started Geox with just five employees, all from the Montebelluna area, which is about 7km from Crocetta del Montello.

The employees were assigned specific responsibilities, from marketing to production. Today, 14 years hence, Geox employs directly and indirectly 30,000 people (including those employed by companies contract manufacturing its products) and is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

“Entrepreneurs should invest more in innovation, collaborate more with universities, and invest more in young people, because this is the key to win against the competition in the future,” he says.

Polegato, who has taught on intellectual property in various universities, emphasises the importance of creativity. “An idea,” he states, “is worth more than a factory.”

Polegato believes that everyone can walk in his footsteps and be as successful.

“Everybody has the possibility to repeat my experience, my story, because everybody has a brain that can be utilised.” -StarBiz

Shanghai Rules in Favor for Adidas

Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People’s Court issued verdicts for two IP infringement cases at one time.

In the case of Adidas vs Zhonglian and Bailuchi, the latter was charged 20,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan compensation, respectively, and were required to stop infringements and publish declarations approved by the court in future editions of the Xinmin Evening Paper.

Adidas registered the "three bars" trademark for its sneakers with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on March 17, 2000. After realizing two companies called Bailuchi and Zhonglian had infringed its trademark rights, Adidas went to Shanghai No 2 Intermediate Court, and asked for compensation and an apology.

After a hearing, Shanghai No 2 Intermediate Court sided with Adidas. The other companies that were sued had used three bars similar to those used in the Adidas trademark for their sneakers, the court ruled.

In another case of trademark infringement, the court ruled that Zhu Jingjing sold counterfeit Gucci, Dior and other famous brand goods on Taobao, China’s online commerce site. Zhu was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 5,000 yuan. -China Daily

Intensifying Research, Development and Commercialization

This is an excerpt of 2010 budget speech which concern patent, trademark and research:

Currently, expenditure on R&D activities is at 0.6% of GDP, well below the United States at 3%, South Korea 3.5% and Taiwan 2.4%. To shift towards a high income economy, we need a strong foundation in research, development and commercialisation (R&D&C) activities. Therefore, to strengthen R&D&C activities, the Government will undertake the following measures:

First: Rationalizing all research funds and grants to be more effective to achieve set targets;

Second: Establishing a National Innovation Centre supported by a network of innovation excellence centres under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education;

Third: Integrating R&D activities with patents, copyrights and trademarks registration to ensure R&D&C processes are implemented more effectively. The cooperation between patent and research agencies will expedite the commercialization of research findings; and

Fourth: Providing small and medium enterprises with tax deduction on expenses incurred in the registration of patents and trademarks in the country.

Tax Deduction for Registration of Patents and Trademarks

Under the Income Tax Act 1967 (as amended), expenses incurred on the registration of patents and trademarks in the country are deemed to be capital expenditure and not allowed as a deduction for tax purposes.

However, as the government's objective is to promote innovation and intellectual property developments among the small and medium industries (SMEs), it is now proposed that expenses incurred in the registration of patents and trademarks in Malaysia be allowed a tax deduction for the purposes of computing the chargeable income of the SME.

The registration expenses would include fees or payment made to the patent and trademark agents registered under the Patents Act of 1983 and the Trade Marks Act of 1976.

SMEs are defined as companies resident in Malaysia which has a paid up capital in respect of ordinary shares of RM2.5 million and less at the beginning of the basis period for a year of assessment (provided that fifty percent of the paid capital in respect of ordinary shares of the company is not directly or indirectly held by a holding or a subsidiary company or a related company that has a paid up capital of more than RM2.5 million).

SME in the manufacturing and manufacturing related service industries and agro based industries would include enterprise with full time employees not exceeding 150 persons or annual sales turnover not exceeding RM 25 million; and in the service industries, primary agriculture and information and communication TECHNOLOGY [] industries, enterprises with full time employees not exceeding 50 persons, or with annual sales turnover not exceeding RM 5 million.

However, the time frame for this deduction is limited to only 5 years i.e. from the year of assessment 2010 to the year of assessment 2014. - Seah Siew Yun, Thornton, The Edge

WIPO Magazine

WIPO magazine is a bi-monthly magazine to update readers of WIPO activities. The magazine shows how intellectual property, creativity and innovation is working to change peoples live around the world. It is written from the perspective of users and owners of IP in mind.

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