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BSA Applauds
Release of Annual USTR Report on Intellectual Property
Special 301 Report Identifies Countries With Lax IP
Protections
Washington, D.C. (May 3, 2004) -- The Business
Software Alliance (BSA) today commended U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick for his annual report that
identifies countries that fail to provide adequate and
effective protection for intellectual property.
BSA said
Zoellick’s annual Special 301 report closely tracks the
recommendations submitted earlier this year by the copyright
industries, and that it is committed to working with USTR
and those countries to promote meaningful reforms that will
benefit their economies.
BSA, as part of
the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA),
earlier this year recommended that USTR include 56 countries
in its annual Special 301 report. Special 301 identifies
nations that have failed to adopt legal reforms and
enforcement programs necessary to comply with the World
Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade-Related Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPs). This year’s report lists 51
countries that need to make improvements in IP protection.
“We commend
Ambassador Zoellick for his work to identify those countries
that need to take more action to enforce intellectual
property laws. And we look forward to working with those
nations to help them take the measures necessary to boost
their economies while meeting their international treaty
obligations,” said Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of
BSA.
“The software
industry has made great strides in its efforts to assist
nations working in good faith to update their intellectual
property protections for the digital age. However, piracy
remains the largest trade barrier for our industry. In 2002,
global losses from software piracy totaled more than $13
billion,” Holleyman said.
Globally, 39
percent of all commercial software in use is pirated.
Reducing that rate by just 10 percentage points by 2006
could deliver 1.5 million jobs, $64 billion in new tax
revenues and $400 billion in economic growth, according to a
study conducted for BSA last year by the global research
firm IDC.
TRIPs requires
all WTO members to adopt legal frameworks that include
enactment and strong enforcement of internationally
compatible copyright laws that prohibit online and end user
piracy and establish adequate civil and criminal penalties
for software theft.
Strong legal
reforms are critical to increased investment and development
of the software industry worldwide. Among the countries
identified in today’s 301 filing:
-
Ukraine -- Rampant copyright piracy in this and other
Eastern European countries continues to impede the
meaningful development of the legitimate business software
industry.
-
Paraguay -- The explosion of new forms of piracy, combined
with laws and a judicial system that continue to treat
piracy as a minor offense, prevent legitimate software
development in Paraguay.
-
India has a dynamic, export driven software industry, but
software piracy within India remains widespread. To address
this problem, India needs to significantly strengthen
enforcement efforts against software piracy and streamline
the cases once they enter the courts.
-
The
Indonesian government worked with industry throughout the
year to increase public awareness about software copyrights
following adoption of criminal penalties against corporate
end user piracy in the latest copyright amendments, but
enforcement is also needed to act as a deterrent.
-
Canada is one of the software industry’s largest markets
outside the U.S., and has a higher piracy rate than many
developed countries. The slow pace of copyright reform in
Canada is a matter of great and growing concern for the
industry. A recent Canadian Federal Court decision has
highlighted how far Canada lags behind much of the world in
addressing digital piracy. Legal reform is urgently needed.
“BSA looks
forward to continuing its efforts in working with policy
makers worldwide to establish the laws and programs
necessary to the continued development of global trade and
e-commerce,” said Holleyman.
For a complete
list of countries submitted to USTR by BSA and other
copyright-related industries, please visit
www.iipa.com.
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REL, NTPC To
Go Nuclear 
ANUPAMA AIRY Financial Express
NEW DELHI, MAY 7: The country’s largest private
sector group, Reliance, and the public sector power major
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), are planning to
diversify into nuclear generation. Both are separately
examining the possibility of forming a joint venture with
Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) for putting up nuclear power
capacities in the country.
At present, both
the companies are tightlipped about their plans. On being
contacted, NTPC chairman and managing director, CP Jain
refused to comment but agreed that the corporation was
examining the proposal to get into a joint venture with NPC.
A Reliance spokesman, too, declined to comment but did not
deny it either.
Sources in the
government disclosed that discussions on NTPC’s entry into
nuclear generation had already taken place at the highest
level of decision-making.
At a recent
meeting with NTPC brass, the power ministry had asked it to
make a foray into the field of nuclear generation as part of
its larger plan to become an important utility for the
country. In response NTPC had told the power ministry that
it was examining the proposal for a joint venture with NPC
for setting up power projects using nuclear fuel.
Sources said the
Reliance group, through Reliance Energy, is also looking at
forming a joint venture with NPC, as is currently required
under the law.
At present,
entire nuclear generation in the country is done by NPC,
which is under the control of the Department of Atomic
Energy India. No new capacities can come without the active
participation of the corporation.
It is significant
to note here that despite being the cheapest option and the
fact that India is sitting on a 30,000 to 40,000 tonne of
surplus heavy water, generation from nuclear power stations
has been declining every year and is showing negative
growth. According to official figures, nuclear generation
capacity in the country declined by 8.3 per cent, from 19.32
billion units (BU) in 2002-03 to 17.72 BU in 2003-04. For
2004-05, the generation target set by the government is
15.44 BUs, a fall of 12.9 per cent.
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IISc fine-tuning IP policy for its tech
Madhumathi
D.S. , Business Line,
Bangalore , May
11
IMAGINE a public
research and academic body talking business with companies
across the table, setting terms of ownership of its
intellectual sweat, the royalty and profits it deserves or
sharing revenues and costs of taking tech to market. Or can
you?
The "hitherto
sleeping partner" has woken and will soon be demanding its
pound of flesh in intellectual property. The Indian
Institute of Science, turning 100 in five years, is giving
the final touches to an Intellectual Property Policy.
Replete with an IP cell under an IP management committee,
the policy will define how IISc and partner companies would
legally split ownership of its technology, besides profits
and costs from it.
The policy should
be out in June or July. "The institute has been interacting
with over 400 domestic and global companies on sponsored and
joint research projects. We dealt with them in an open-ended
manner. Now, this institute will not have any interaction
with industry without (including) the IP issue," IISc
Director, Dr Goverdhan Mehta, told Business Line.
The only
exception would be socially relevant or public health areas
where Prof Mehta said, "IISc would happily waive the IP
issue."
On a day
celebrated by CSIR labs and research institutes as
Technology Day, Dr Mehta unveiled 100 select patented
technologies ready for transfer from IISc to the industry.
These, he said, were only 60 per cent of the best of the
IISc portfolio in biology, bioinformatics, vaccines,
diagnostics and communications.
As for their
material worth, Dr Mehta said one indication was the
turnover that IISc's industry links, the Centre for
Scientific & Industrial Consultancy and the Society for
Innovation & Development, earn Rs 20 crore a year.
"Let's say I'm
looking for a blockbuster, not just worth crores but at
something like a billion dollars. And we are on the way."
IISc has also
signed an MoU with IIT-Mumbai, on a joint IP strategy, said
Prof M.L. Munjal, Chairman of Mechanical Sciences Division
and chairman of the IP policy drafting committee.
Prof Munjal
called it a shift from "common sense to commerce" in the way
the institute was treating its research products today.
"Until recently, we were just old fashioned scientists and
engineers who were happy to publish papers while industry
collaborators took away the IP by default. Only in the last
few years, we started waking up to this new reality."
IISc is trying to
convince its purists about the benefits of business and the
culture of entrepreneurship. "Our motivation is not only to
augment resources, but to promote enterprise." Yet, that
would not dent the basic research that the institute prides
itself in.
Two new
start-ups on cards: Three years ago, IISc began
encouraging scientists to take time off, form start-ups and
itself took a stake in them. Soon, Prof Mehta said, two new
start-ups would join its band of four that includes PicoPeta
Simputer and bioinformatics company Strand Genomics.
The new ones will
be virtual enterprise solutions company VXP from the
Mechanical Engineering stable and Esqube (`s-cube') in the
field of sensors and wireless communication solutions.
A sample from the store
`STRATIFIED
charge engine' may sound awesome.
Its low-fuel,
low-exhaust effect should soon be felt on the roads. Here is
a concept that TVS Motors nursed and bought from IISc's
Mechanical Engineering Department for its upcoming
two-wheeler. IISc got Rs 10 lakh each for two years and will
soon be receiving one per cent of royalty on engine cost.
The TVS product
itself would be riding on six IISc patents and over Rs
3-crore investment.
This, says IISc,
is just a sample of its ammunition in which several industry
majors have shown interest, from GM, Tata Motors, Mahindra &
Mahindra and Ashok Leyland. From aerospace, mechanical and
electrical engineering to biochemistry and ecological
sciences, IISc's departments are telling industries about
their wares, that range from high energy density lead acid
battery, truly disposable, single-use syringes; high-return
silica ash from rice husk to cryo-grinding for the food
industry.
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A
Search Engine For Tech Prospectors
CHI uses a strictly quantitative method based on evaluating
the strength of public companies' patent portfolios. Based
in Haddon Heights, N.J., the firm got its start in 1968
reviewing patents for the National Science Foundation. It
still consults for corporate clients, but its
investment-research method, on which it has its own patent,
is gaining renown. Here's how it works: Every month, CHI
looks over the patents of 477 innovators, from mighty
General Electric (GE
) to the likes of genomics outfit Lynx Therapeutics (LYNX
). It checks not just how many patents each company holds
but what it refers to as "citation impact" -- how often they
are cited in later patent applications. CHI also checks how
many references a patent makes to academic papers, a way to
see how closely to basic science the company is working. And
it notes how quickly the companies exploit scientific
advances by checking the median age of patents cited in
their patent applications. Finally, CHI considers the
companies' stock-price-to-book-value ratios.
Naturally, CHI's research isn't foolproof. Of the 10 picks
listed in BusinessWeek in 2002, three had negative
returns, including CHI's then-favorite, optical networker
Ciena (CIEN
). Now, its favorites (table) include several biotech names,
such as Maxygen (MAXY
), Transgenomic (TBIO
), and Caliper Life Sciences (CALP
), a repeat from 2002. Patrick Thomas, a CHI senior analyst,
said basic materials companies lately are climbing the
ranks. One is Arch Chemicals (ARJ
), which Olin (OLN
) spun off in 1999. CHI is keen on its patents for polishing
copper-coated wafers and on the relatively low age of its
patents -- indicating fast innovation.
Cabot, (CBT
) another name on the list that many investors may not
associate with high tech, is a longtime producer of carbon
black, a key material used by tiremakers. But Cabot also
sells specialty powders for ink jets, fuel cells, and
flat-panel displays. And it knows how to cash in on
innovation. In 2000 it spun off Cabot Microelectronics (CCMP
), a supplier of polishing slurries and pads for
microelectronics. Before the spin-off, Cabot had a market
value of $2.2 billion. Within a year, the parent and
offspring's total value topped $5 billion.
Expecting Cabot to hit another such lode is unreasonable,
just as it's unlikely the NASDAQ will have another year like
2003 soon. Still, CHI's list strikes me as a good place for
tech investors to keep prospecting.
(Source: Business Week).
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