ALB Asia Top 15 IP Lawyers 2022 | Media Pyro

This annual award showcases the top 15 IP lawyers across Asia, who have delivered high quality IP work and set the highest standards in the IP space, earning awards from their colleagues, bosses, and customers.

Asia maintained its dominance in developing and sustaining innovation, even as intellectual property (IP) activity slowed two years after the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, 2022 has arrived with significant challenges for the IP sector. This is driven by political and economic uncertainty around the world, and continued weakness in product-driven innovation.

Despite those challenges, some countries in the region are eager to innovate.

“Although innovation investments are increasing in 2020 and 2021, the outlook for 2022 will only be gloomy due to global uncertainties but the work in the productivity of innovation will continue. This is the reason why we need to pay more attention not only to invest in innovation, but how to translate it into economic and social impact. Quality and value are as important to success as quantity. and scale.

— Daren Tang, WIPO

Singapore and South Korea are ranked sixth and seventh in the Global Innovation Index 2022 Ranking maintained by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). China is nearing the top 10 in the world, in eleventh place, just behind Denmark.

“Although innovation investments are increasing in 2020 and 2021, the outlook for 2022 will only be gloomy due to global uncertainties but the work in the productivity of innovation will continue. This is the reason why more attention should be paid to not only investing in innovation, but how to translate it into economic and social impact. Quality and value are as important to success as quantity. and scale,” said Daren Tang, Director General of WIPO.

According to the international organization, South Korea, Singapore, and China stand as the three new economies in South Asia, East Asia, and the Oceania region, as well as India, Iran and Uzbekistan the creative economies of Upper and South Asia.

In the 2022 edition of WIPO’s Global Innovation Index, four out of five of the world’s science and technology clusters are located in East Asia: one in Japan, the Tokyo-Yokohama cluster, two in China, the Shenzhen – Hong Kong – Guangzhou and the Beijing Cluster, and one in the South Korean city of Seoul.

In the unusual situation where creativity is trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and is influenced by uncertainty in the current global context, these clusters are cornerstones for creative growth and creativity. It is also important for increasing the awareness of intellectual property, protecting it, and strengthening its boundaries.

Some 54 of the world’s most innovative enterprises are located in Asia, according to Clarivate’s Top 100 Global Innovators 2022 list. Regions are still drafting a number of amendments to local legal frameworks related to IP issuance and litigation.

Innovation must go hand in hand with IP knowledge, in a changing world. Therefore Vietnam, a country ranked 48 in WIPO’s Global Innovation Index 2022, introduced profound changes to its IP legal framework in the first half of 2022. It is petitioning to become a regional reference country. and the establishment of the intellectual WIPO. training center.

Thailand was close to IP news in 2022. The new laws on counterfeit goods, a landmark case in the booming e-commerce sector and the introduction of the Human Rights Act of island, some of the important ones.

Other countries in the region, such as Indonesia, also have advanced IP laws that have introduced interesting legal changes.

JAPAN

Japan’s IP registration activity is lower than the levels seen in 2021, according to new data released by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on September 27.

According to the governing body, there were 168,766 applications for patents and utility models in the first seven months of the year, compared to 171,457 for the same period in 2021.

Applications to register designs fell from 18,565 to 18,457 and registrations of trademarks fell from 107,453 in 2021 to 101,141 in 2022.

However, global demand has increased through different channels, compared to figures from 2021.

Applications for patent examinations fell from 139,208 between January and July 2021 to 135,832 in the same period.

In addition to the law, after consultation in January and April, the JPO published the Green Transformation Technologies Inventory (GXTI) to help businesses provide information about the evidence for their statements about climate change.

“To support companies to create evidence-based statements about their climate change communications, a new technology directory was developed, which provides a bird’s eye view of patented technologies that related to the Green Transformation (GX), and the patent search patterns associated with each technology, the JPO decided to publish information and name it “GXTI (Green Transformation Technologies Inventory),” which said JPO, seeking to stimulate international discussion of the adoption of such a method.

“The GXTI will be reviewed and updated as necessary,” JPO said.

SINGAPORE

The country leads the region in terms of innovation, according to the Global Innovation Index 2022 Rankings from WIPO. It is right behind South Korea and ahead of Germany.

“Although policy makers believe that IP rights should be a “reward” for innovation, they are not sure about the level of protection they should guarantee for the patents involved. to AI to be useful and to enable innovation, which points to some areas of uncertainty between AI experts and policy makers regarding AI patents.

— Singapore Management University

However, the country faces major challenges that need to be addressed, according to a recent study conducted by the Singapore Management University (SMU), which stated that it is difficult to share the benefits of conservation IP to the country’s artificial intelligence (AI). .

“Although policy makers believe that IP rights should act as a “reward” for the work of innovators, they are not sure about the level of protection they should support for the patents involved. to AI to be useful and enable innovation, which points to some areas of uncertainty between AI experts and policy makers regarding AI patents, “said SMU .

However, the university boosts Singapore’s appeal as a thriving innovation center in Asia.

“While AI practitioners felt that there was a need for clearer guidance on data availability and restrictions on data use to drive AI innovation, they feel that the new environment, Singapore’s ecosystem and the well-measured policies. incentives and attractive bonuses,” he said.

ANOTHER COUNTRY

South Korea is ranked sixth in the Global Innovation Index 2022, behind The Netherlands and ahead of Singapore. The country’s Competition and Consumer Protection Act, also known as the Trade Fair Practices Act, which came into force in April, made significant changes to the right to advertising laws, including to the legal framework of trade secrets.

The right to privacy based on the sovereign value of one’s name, likeness, and other recognizable signs of one’s identity is known as the right of publicity.

Meanwhile, Thailand will easily be one of the Asian countries with the most activity in the IP sector by 2022, in terms of decisions and regulations.

He introduced new laws on cultural recording and seizure of counterfeit goods, which came into force at the end of July, adopted the Copyright Act, and saw a major ruling that ended the 2017 case against Alibaba’s Alibaba. This year, Thai authorities also lowered the minimum threshold for the value of counterfeit goods by half to trigger prosecution by law enforcement. With regard to the new rules on customs registration and the seizure of counterfeit goods, the new decision will help trademark and copyright owners to be better connected in the fight against IP infringements.

Another innovation in the sector is the adoption of the Copyright Act, which came into effect at the end of August. Internet service providers, such as e-commerce platforms acting as third parties, are excluded from liability related to copyright infringement.

The action followed a case in which a private company sued Alibaba in 2017 for allegedly infringing their IP, while allowing third-party criminals to sell counterfeit products through their platforms. .

In Vietnam in the first half of the year, the National Assembly amended the country’s IP law, which some analysts consider the most comprehensive reform of the legal framework since 2005. will take effect. on January 1, 2023.

In addition to updating its IP law, the country also launched a training center on intellectual property for applicants and commercial owners.

“The IP training program for candidates and business leaders will improve the knowledge of candidates and government officials about basic IP concepts, as well as the relationship between IP and the main challenges of the world. Under the agreement, WIPO will also support the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and offer regular and effective IP training programs,” WIPO said.

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