| Azlan Othman |
BRUNEI Darussalam is ranked 35th in the latest annual International IP Index released on February 8 by the US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC).
The sixth annual International IP Index, ‘Create’, analysed the intellectual property (IP) climate in 50 world economies.
The report ranked economies based on 40 unique indicators that benchmarked activities critical to innovative develop-ments involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secret protections.
The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union economies remained on top of the global IP rankings, though the Americans’ lead narrowed due to systemic challenges to the US patent system.
Japan and Singapore also appeared among the Index’s top 10.
The report highlighted the Sultanate’s key areas of strength namely the 2017 accession to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet treaties, major IP reforms in the past few years including the establishment of the Brunei IP Office (BruIPO), and removal from the Special 301 Report.
Meanwhile, key areas of weakness include the lack of life sciences IP rights, unavailability of regulatory data protection, overly broad compulsory licence framework, limited framework for addressing online piracy and circumvention devices, and high software piracy rates with 66 per cent in latest estimates.
Brunei’s overall score in the International IP Index has decreased from 41 per cent (14.18 out of 35) in the fifth edition to 38 per cent (15.01 out of 40) in the sixth edition. This decrease in score mainly reflects a weak performance on the new indicators.
The report highlighted intellectual property as an economic asset; it said Brunei has for many years sought to diversify its economy from natural resources toward other areas of economic activity.
The Government of Brunei has invested in developing a high-tech capacity with focus on knowledge-intensive sectors.
As part of its overall national economic development plan, the Brunei Economic Development Board has included the ‘Technology and Creative Industry’ as one of the five key areas for national development.
Brunei has recognised the link between the protection of IP and economic and technological development. Since its inception in 2013, the BruIPO has as part of its mission conducted awareness-raising activities on the value of IP and its use as an economic asset.
The office regularly conducts workshops, clinics, and seminars for local practitioners and stakeholders; these efforts include capacity building with local patent lawyers.
In addition, most major higher education institutions have both IP policies and technology transfer offices in place.
For instance, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) has a long-standing IP policy in place that provides a clear framework for the development and commercialisation of IP assets.
As of 2014, the university was the largest domestic holder of patents in Brunei, with a total patent portfolio of 26 filed patents.
WIPO statistics show that the university is the top filing entity in Brunei for patent application through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), with two applications filed in 2015.
The post Brunei ranks 35th in global IP index appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.