KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — Intellectual property (IP), which is based on the power of imagination, is native to all peoples, relevant in all times and cultures, and has historically contributed to the progress of societies.
Basically, IP is legally protected intellectual assets such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, service-marks, industrial designs and trade secrets.
The principle underlying IP is that the recognition and rewards associated with ownership of inventions and creative works stimulate further inventive and creative activity, which in turn, stimulates economic growth.
Whether you are a researcher looking at commercialising your technology or an entrepreneur who is trying to build a technology-based business, one of the keys to your success will be your ability to set yourself apart from the competition.
If you have an idea for a new product, service, marketing approach, or other way to generate revenue, it is important for you to preserve the proprietary nature of that idea as you bring it to fruition.
The first step towards growing that value of an idea or business is identifying the underlying IP. Only then can one intelligently choose the appropriate vehicle to protect it while commercialising it.
TKS Winwell Equipment Supply Sdn Bhd understands that creating a successful product does not necessarily prevent its business from competition.
Penang-based businessman Sean Tam understands the importance of protecting his product line and business through proper legal mechanisms.
His innovation, Fresco Deep Fryer, which is a unique electric water-oil deep fryer started off as an idea. Fresco fryers was designed to challenge the conventional wisdom that oil and water cannot coexist when it comes to frying food where water fills the bottom half of the machine while oil naturally floats owing to the difference in density.
Realising the importance of stimulating economic growth through creation of intellectual property, PlaTCOM’s in-house IP experts played a pivotal role in helping businessmen like Tam to realise his dreams with no burden on his company pocket.
PlaTCOM hand held TKS Winwell Equipment Supply Sdn Bhd throughout the IP commercialisation value chain by providing an end-to-end patent, trademark and industrial protections leading to commercialisation of the said innovation.
The company was assisted in terms of determining the market landscape and commercial viability of the technology through a patent landscape exercise and formulation of the company’s product line branding and commercial strategy.
Entrepreneurs and inventors must understand the consequences of not protecting one’s idea or business. The failure to protect your idea will expose it for others to copy and patent them.
This will legitimately exclude your business from the market, limit its activities to the continuation of prior use, where the patent legislation provides for such exception and loss of licencing opportunities where you are unable to request for licensing fees for using the invention.
Competitors will produce the same products and without having to pay for such use.
Opportunities to licence, sell or transfer technology will be severely limited or even hindered. Without IP rights, transfers of technology would be almost impossible.
IP protection, in particular patent protection, is crucial for acquiring technology through its licensing. This is to ensure that negotiations for transferring a given technological development is conducted clearly without the fear that the other side may run away with the invention.
Patent, a part of intellectual property, is the instrument we use to guarantee that the things we invent are credited properly to us and not to a pirate or a competitor.
No universal patent regime exists right now — each country has its own laws — and those of us contemplating the international release of a new product will have to register separate patents in every country we wish our product to enter.
The drawback of this is obviously our need to enter an international legal labyrinth, but the benefit is that it allows each country separately to determine what patents are in its best interests to grant.
An increasing number of Malaysian companies are investing in home-grown IPs and are recognising it as a valuable asset.
However, to achieve a successful IP investment, sale or licencing deal is a challenging process where specialist skills, networks and relationships are required.
It is essential to engage or consult an IP specialist who would understand the pains and mind-set of both worlds — academia and industry, in order to negotiate an unbiased deal that promises a win-win situation for both parties.
PlaTCOM IP commercialisation team has successfully facilitated over 90 technology-transfer deals since its inception in 2014 between academia and industry by ensuring a suitable licensing mechanism was put in place and agreed by all parties.
PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd is well positioned to assist the local entrepreneur landscape by providing specialisation in all IP matters.
Through strategic relationships with clients and understanding their needs, PlaTCOM Ventures has built a reputation as an IP expert, serving Malaysian and international clients in the public and private sectors.
PlaTCOM is well positioned as the only IP commercialisation provider specialising in providing end-to-end intellectual property management matters.
Guided by the company’s vision, Innovating A Better Future Together, PlaTCOM strives to make a difference to accelerate and enable intellectual property as an easy, affordable and valuable playground for all in order to drive the country’s vision towards a knowledge driven economy.
* Biruntha Mooruthi is the Vice President of PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd – the national technology commercialisation platform of Malaysia which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) formed in collaboration with SME Corp Malaysia.
