SMEs Advised to Trade IP
06 December 2013
Is a lack of engineers holding Hong Kong back from being a great IP trading hub? Possibly, according to speakers on the second day of the Business of IP Asia Forum in Hong Kong
If you want to trade successfully in patentable IP rights you need to understand them, speakers said. Phil Fu, vice president of the WTOIP Research Institute, said that if you want to be a good trader, you need to be a good engineer. “If you were a business major, it may be difficult to successfully trade in technical IP,” Fu said.
Hong Kong companies are great traders, but not necessarily great inventors, said Lewis Fuk, president of the Hong Kong Institute of Patent Attorneys. Hong Kong companies should play to their strengths, he commented.
Trading in IP rights can provide companies with opportunities for growth which may be quicker than developing their own IP. “Hong Kong can invent, but it takes time and resources. Purchasing and trading in IP rights can bring greater rewards more quickly,” Luk said.
The Asia IP Exchange, relaunched on Thursday, should make trading in IP rights across Asia easier.
