Asia IP

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) furthered bilateral relations on October 27, 2014, signing a memorandum of understanding to enhance IP cooperation between the two countries. A key highlight of this agreement is the joint development of the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City (SSGKC).

The SSGKC will be a model zone exploring the best mode of cooperation between China and Singapore, says Howard Hao, a partner at Chang Tsi & Partners in Beijing. “Once the SSGKC is successful for both local economies and IP owners, this mode may be easily transplanted to other cities, as IP awareness has increased significantly in the last decade.”

The MOU was inked at the sidelines of the 11th Singapore-China Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting, which is co-chaired by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and China’s Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.

This MOU significantly promotes the communication and interaction between China and Singapore in terms of the creation, commercialization, protection and management of IP. The Chinese government has successfully motivated domestic individuals and companies to seek patent protection, as China now has the largest number of filings around the world. But there is still a long way to go for domestic IP owners to learn to commercialize and manage their IPRs, Hao says. “Singapore has a lot of experience in capitalizing and evaluating IP evaluation, so we see a lot of potential for the two countries to collaborate.”

The MOU, which is effective for five years, expands on existing collaborations with China such as the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) agreement signed in May 2013 to provide a faster and more cost effective route for businesses and innovators in both countries. SIPO and IPOS now can refer to each other’s examination results during substantive examination, Hao says. “This will greatly help IP owners to acquire protection faster.”

SIPO has established a satellite office in the SSGKC to provide services such as examination and education to local business and IP owners. The SSGKC will also attract law firms to establish their offices there, which promote the local growth of IP. “SIPO plays a more important role in the Chinese economy nowadays and looks forward to making the SSGKC an exemplary district of IP creation and commercialization,” says Hao.

IPOS has great experience in managing, evaluating, licensing and commercializing IP, which complements the knowledge and specialty of SIPO, says Hao.

The SSGKC provides financial support for filing patent applications, ranging from Rmb400 (US$67) to Rmb30,000 (US$5,000), and there are other policies catering to Fortune 500 companies, state-level research projects and other research centers. “The SSGKC also helps IP owners enforce their IPRs through investigation and litigation,” Hao says. “This is very important, since many owners do not know how to enforce their exclusive rights, even if they are aware of their infringement.”

All aforementioned policies and services apply to all companies and research centers located in the SSGKC.