Asia IP

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore has started to issue first office action search and examination reports for patent applications filed in Cambodia, allowing businesses and entrepreneurs swifter access to a combined market of 20 million people. With Cambodia poised to assent to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the steady continuity in IP cooperation between both countries is testament to the progressive integration and development of IP within ASEAN.

This progress was noted at the Third High Level Meeting in Phnom Penh, led by Cham Prasidh, Cambodia’s senior minister from the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft (MIH), and IPOS chief executive Daren Tang.

Singapore and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding last January to cooperate on IP protection and contribute to the larger development of the region’s IP ecosystem. Steady progress has been made since; IPOS is assisting MIH on patent search and examination services to expedite the grant of quality patents in Cambodia. MIH is also setting regulations for re-registration of Singapore patents in Cambodia. Both IP offices are geared towards facilitating greater IP knowledge transfer and training, and the sharing of processes and forms, to help businesses grow and expand within the larger ASEAN Economic Community.

“The MOU is very helpful to upgrade and facilitate our patent registration system,” Sreypeou Chaing, managing attorney at CSP & Associates in Phnom Penh, tells Asia IP. “This has been troubled for many years due to the lack of examination capacity, so we appreciate this super cooperation.”

Although Cambodia has signed similar MOUs with other countries in the region, the MOU between Cambodia and Singapore has arguably had the greatest immediate impact. “For instance, despite the first foreign patent application [being] filed in Cambodia in 2000, Cambodia only granted its first patent in March 2015, which was based on an application from Singapore. This came less than two months after the MOU with Singapore was signed and the landmark application was based on a positive report by IPOS’ Search & Examination Unit. Given the fact that the MOU was only signed in January 2015 and has an initial duration of five years, the progress made so far as regards the MOU’s objectives is significant,” says Simon Burlinson, head of IP/IT practice group at Sciaroni & Associates in Phnom Penh.

“The successful collaboration with Cambodia and the grant of Cambodia’s first foreign patent is a reaffirmation of Singapore’s search and examination capability, and we hope to see IPOS provide further technical cooperation to the MIH in the future in the form of training and exchange of information,” Burlinson says. “Alongside ongoing patent work-sharing programmes like the ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation (ASPEC), the cooperation between Singapore and Cambodia enables prospective companies to access the regional common market more effectively. This is in alignment with the region’s plans for the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.”

There are costs to the programme, too, though they are difficult to quantify. “All cooperation activities under the MOU are subject to the availability of resources of each party, and the implementation of the cooperation activities is subject to the availability of funds and budget priorities of each part and the mutual written agreement between the parties. Therefore, from a purely financial perspective, the costs of implementing the activities contemplated by the MOU are dependent on the scope, duration and frequency of collaboration activities between Cambodia and Singapore,” Burlinson says. “From a technical perspective, there seems little cost, if any, to Cambodia, and the support and knowledge-sharing of IPOS will be invaluable to the MIH.”

Public knowledge about the MOU is not yet so broad. “This means that the progress and the possibility of patent search and examination is not very well-known by the public [and] entrepreneurs,” Chaing says. “We think the MIH needs time to implement the MOU efficiently, and the applicants will need to know how to access IPOS as well.”

Following an auspicious event so soon after the MOU was signed, the IP community in Cambodia is looking forward to seeing the cooperation activities being developed further to help businesses seeking cross-border investment in a combined market of more than 20 million people, says Burlinson.

At the signing, Cham, the MIH minister, said that “businesses can now operate in Cambodia with greater confidence that their innovations will be protected through the patent examination services provided by IPOS. This brings us a step closer towards IP harmonization in ASEAN, as the region advances towards being single IP bloc.”

Tang, the IPOS executive, said that “IPOS is pleased to be partnering with the MIH, and the rest of ASEAN, in our collective quest towards building an integrated, innovation-driven and pace-setting region in today’s global knowledge economy. We will continue to share and develop business-friendly and efficient IP processes for creators and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and gain a competitive edge in ASEAN.”