Ideas walk a tightrope. On one side is the appreciation of ideas – even in popular discourse, ideas are associated with light bulbs, sparks, an epiphany of understanding. But on the other, due to their abstract nature, ideas do not come with value attached – ideas are thought of as a free, limitless resource.
Yet ideas, although forming part of the intangible economy, provide a very tangible value to a business and, indeed, a nation’s economy.
For Benoît Battistelli, since 2010 president of the European Patent Office – an international organisation with 38 member states – intellectual property is a main economic contributor.
“Intellectual property is a very powerful economic driver: it guarantees protection to a company investing in research and development and, by virtue of giving applicants a monopoly for 20 years in a geographical area, leads to innovation and, in turn, to economic activity.”
Mr Battistelli was in Malta to celebrate 10 years of cooperation between the world’s five largest property offices: the European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, Korean Intellectual Property Office, State Intellectual Property Office of China, and US Patent and Trademark Office.
In a globalised world, ideas are no longer limited to a country or region – this is why cooperation between the world’s five largest property offices is essential, in terms of strengthening work-sharing, patent examination efficiency and quality, and the stability of patent rights for innovators around the world.
This cooperation between the five offices – commonly referred to as the IP5 – was established in 2007 in response to the increasing globalisation of the patent process marked by ever growing numbers of patent applications and companies increasingly filing their patents with multiple offices.
While Malta may be geographically an island, in terms of a globalised world, it is not, because ideas and inventions know no boundaries
In the first decade of its existence, IP5 co-operation has delivered a number of products and services that particularly support innovating businesses which have a global market orientation.
Moreover, the IP5 has achieved such a stature that nowadays it accounts for 85 per cent of patent applications worldwide.
Mr Battistelli emphasised the added value that intellectual property gives to an economy.
“According to a study carried out jointly by the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office, intellectual property rights-intensive industries are more resilient and contribute to a country’s GDP and employment.
“On an EU level, intellectual property rights-intensive industries directly generated 28 per cent of all jobs in the EU during the period 2011-13, translating into 60 million jobs. The same industries pay significantly higher wages than other industries, with a premium of 46 per cent. Moreover, in the same period, these industries generated a trade surplus of €96.4 billion.”
Within this context, where does Malta stand?
“First of all, choosing Malta as the venue for our 10-year anniversary celebration is no coincidence. We traditionally choose an island for these annual meetings – in fact, our last meeting was held in Hawaii. Also, the fact that Malta currently holds the presidency of the European Council added more value to the location.
“Malta is also a member of the European Patent Office and, although it has a service-based economy, is also encouraging the growth of its knowledge-based industry. Therefore, intellectual property plays a significant role in this growth and we expect to see more intellectual property activity on the island.
“And while Malta may be geographically an island, in terms of a globalised world, it is not, because ideas and inventions know no boundaries. In fact, within this globalised context, there is a healthy flow of patent applications between China, South Korea, Japan, Europe and the US. In 2015, Europe submitted 93,200 patent applications to the US, and in turn received 42,700 applications from the US.
“Europe also submitted 35,400 applications to China and received 5,700 applications.”
But is intellectual property a ‘monopoly’ of large companies and organisations?
For Mr Battistelli, intellectual property is critical to all organisations – and not just the larger ones – as it gives them a competitive advantage.
“It is especially important to SMEs as well as to start-ups, whose biggest value is made up of their ideas and innovative capacity.”
At their annual meeting hosted by the European Patent Office in Valletta, the heads of the IP5 offices committed themselves to continuing their joint efforts towards effective work-sharing and harmonisation of patent practices and procedures to further improve the patent landscape for users worldwide.
“While each country has its own rules and regulations, the harmonisation between each office is paramount,” Mr Battistelli said. “In fact, we are working on the launch of a European patent with automatic validation in all EU countries.
“This will reduce the administrative burden and costs involved in applying for a patent.”