New Trends in
Intellectual Property
Alicia Blaya M.A. LL.M
IPR World Day, El Cairo, April 26, 2005
Contents
I. Preliminary issues
II. Some hot topics and trends
1. Software protection
2. Anti-Counterfeiting actions
3. Intellectual Capital Management
I. Preliminary issues
I. Preliminary issues
Having a good idea does not mean money,
nor always acknowledgement

good ideas by themselves do not generally lead to
economic/scientific strength
they need to be adequately protected and
exploited

foreign investors trust in markets with a reliable IP
Adequate standards of
system
protection required
I. Preliminary issues
The World is aware of this

Several International Conventions since the 1880’s

TRIPs Agreement (1994)

Regional policies; EU:


Harmonising and drawing together Member States’
legislation on IP
Creating unitary IPR (Community Trade mark, Community
Plant breeder’s right, Community design… And still
looking forward to adopting the Community Patent)
I. Preliminary issues
IP practice needs to interplay with other
sectors

Indiscriminate and rash application of the IPR
protection system is not a good piece of news

IP exploitation and companies’ policies should be
responsible

IPR implementation should be reconciled with social
and scientific needs
I. Preliminary issues
IP is a living reality
IPR evolve, as society and economy do, to
catch up with different factors e.g.
new technologies, new markets
society demands (ethical issues, human rights,
biodiversity)
economic & scientific changes
Not all trends go in the
same direction
II. Some hot topics and trends
II. Some hot topics and trends
Many IP-related issues are evolving

Acknowledgement & protection of Traditional
Knowledge

Biotechnology + ethical issues

IP insurance policies

Widespread application of ADR systems

TM registration (new signs)

Tech measures for © works, Internet challenges…
II. Some hot topics and trends
…selecting just a few:
1. Software protection
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions - IPR
enforcement
3. Intellectual Capital Management
II. Some hot topics and trends
1. Software protection
1. Software trends
Since early 1970’s SW protection was profusely
discussed

Under Copyright Law, agreed but:

Current international trends go in two opposite ways:
•
Some (product-oriented) sectors claim for patent
protection
•
Some (service-oriented) communities claim for ‘libre
software’ solutions
1. Software trends
a) Patent protection
US: quite a common practice
Strong support from big
industry
Europe: sw ‘as such’ was excluded from patentability in the
EPC 1973 (European patents) and in national
legislations of EU Member States
EPO practice progressively opens the door if ‘technical
effect’
EU: Proposal for a Directive on the protection of computerimplemented inventions
1. Software trends
b) ‘Libre software’, ‘open source sw’
Or ‘opening the source code of a software’ +...

Free Software Foundation (FSF): US, Mid 1980’s
“Sw was born free”. The user has to be given back the
freedoms he lost (running, modifying, redistributing
copies, distributing modified versions)

Open Source Initiative (OSI): US, Late 1990’s
Sw itself benefits if no traditional © constraints are in
place
1. Software trends
Unfair use is controlled by means of standard
licensing agreements

‘Libre software’ solutions are supported by large
communities of IT developers and experts;

They are being considered and/or implemented by
governments and companies across countries;

Several EU initiatives encourage this practice by
means of research and learning programmes
II. Some hot topics and trends
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions - IPR
enforcement
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions
Having our innovative ideas protected
does not mean forgetting menaces

Unconscious individuals,

unscrupulous traders,

organised groups…can cause you big troubles by
infringing your IPR
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions

Globalisation

New technologies

Territoriality of IPR protection
…together with other factors of social and political
nature have facilitated the growth of counterfeiting
and piracy over the last 20 years
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions
Broadly speaking, ‘counterfeiting’ and ‘piracy’ refer to
making, distributing and selling copies of goods
without the IPR holders’ consent
These illegal practices affect most i.a.:

Software industry

Toy industry

Audio-visuals

Pharma, perfumes

Textiles
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions
Counterfeiting harms IPR holders and public interests:

Loss of sales and market power

Loss of jobs in the relevant field

Discouragement of innovation

Discouragement of foreign investment

Consumer protection
IPR holders need to be helped by means of public policies
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions
Nowadays there is a vivid willingness for stable and
effective co-operation schemes at international and
regional level
Initiatives at international level

WIPO, UN,WCO, Interpol IPCAG

WTO Members’ actions under TRIPs commitments
EU policies

Directive 2004/48/EC

Strategy for the Enforcement of IPR in third countries
2. Anti-counterfeiting actions
To sum up:

Public awareness

National coordination

International co-operation

Administrative and judicial enforcement
…are considered now as the best tools for improving
protection
II. Some hot topics and trends
3. Intellectual Capital Management
3. Intellectual Capital Management
Making the most of one self’s knowledge is
becoming a major objective
Intangible resources are becoming equally (if no
more) important than tangible ones
Knowledge-based society, knowledge-based
economy…commonly used terms nowadays
3. Intellectual Capital Management
Together with general policies emphasising
knowledge exploitation, there is a business trend
towards IC management or knowledge management
Optimising the output of a company by
managing all its knowledge
Scandinavian countries are actively working on this
practice since the 1990’s
3. Intellectual Capital Management
Some principles:

Managing intangible assets for a competitive
advantage

Stimulating employees’ implication (‘collective
power vs individual power’)

Measurements of intangible resources (financial
accounting data)
3. Intellectual Capital Management
Current means:
Standardisation,
& within the companies themselves:

Good practices

Knowledge agents

The traditional figure of the ‘mentor’
Useful links
WIPO: www.wipo.int
WTO: www.wto.org
WCO: www.wcoomd.org / www.wcoipr.org
EPO: www.epo.org
EU website: www.europa.eu.int
IPR-Helpdesk: www.ipr-helpdesk.org
FSF: www.fsf.org
OSI: www.opensource.org
Thank you
for your attention!
alicia.blaya@ua.es
ipr-helpdesk@ua.es