According to statistics released by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO), by the end of 2010 the accumulated quantity of patent applications by Taiwanese organizations reached 1.3 million. Furthermore, the data show that Taiwanese companies invest more than NT$ 80 billion in R&D activities every year. However, the annual expenditure of these companies in application and maintenance fees, litigation, settlements, damage award and obtaining licenses exceeds NT$ 200 billion every year. Clearly, efficiently managing intellectual property (IP) and also generating the maximum benefit from it, is a vital challenge facing these companies.
In order to assist Taiwanese companies to manage their IP effectively, in 2003 TIPO authorized the Science & Technology Institute of the Institute for Information Industry (STLI / III) to research and introduce the Taiwan Intellectual Property Management System (TIPS) guidelines. In short, TIPS is a specification that it integrates the "Plan > Do > Action > Check" model of ISO 9001:2000 quality management system, but instead focuses on IP management. TIPO had planned to make TIPS a national standard via related national standard verification process. However, the Taiwan IP industry has no consensus on a national standard for IP management, and establishing a standard takes time, therefore, the TIPO's managing entity, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) decided to promote TIPS as an industry specification The MOEA assigned the Industrial Development Bureau to promote TIPS.
Organizations in Charge of TIPS
Year |
Project Owner |
Outsource Partner |
Task |
Details |
2003 |
TIPO (under MOEA) |
STLI (under III) |
Research & Analysis |
To collect and sum up the key issues of IP Management |
2004 |
TIPO (under MOEA) |
STLI (under III) |
Trial Run |
Public hearing and trial run |
2005~2006 |
IDB (under MOEA) |
STLI (under III) |
Demonstration |
- Introduction of online self-examine mechanism
- Guidance of companies diagnose system
- Introduction of sample vendors
|
2007~2008 |
IDB (under MOEA) |
STLI (under III) |
Formal Launch & Promotion |
- Formal launch announcement of TIPS (2007, March)
- Introduction of TIPS by single vendor
- Introduction of TIPS by industry groups
|
2009 |
IDB (under MOEA) |
STLI (under III) |
Aggressive Promotion |
Cooperate with industrial organizations, to speed up the promotion of common guidance |
2010~ |
IDB (under MOEA) |
STLI (under III) |
Aggressive Promotion |
- To speed up promotion by enhancing the related network platform.
- Encourage the companies to write and release their IP reports
|
TIPS Project Achievements & Progress
According to STLI, since being assigned in 2005 the responsibility to promote TIPS, nearly one hundred enterprises have already established their TIPS and passed certification. Thirty-five enterprises passed verification in 2010 and on February 10th, IDB held "A Seminar on Demonstration of TIPS Resources and Conferment of TIPS Certificates". Apart from conferring the certificates and demonstrating the current progress of TIPS, several companies shared their experiences in introducing TIPS to their organizations, including Everlight Chemical Industrial Corp., Sino-American Silicon Products Inc., and Lite-On Technology Corp.
Sharing of TIPS Experiences
James Lee, Deputy Director of R&D Center Intellectual Property Division at Everlight Chemical indicated that the company made some major changes in management after the introduction of TIPS last April. These major changes include: (1) Introduction of a routine check mechanism (every 6 months) for the effectiveness and suitability of the company's IP management system. (2) Creation of documents related to IP management. (3) Adjustment of the recruitment management (issued related to IP) system. (4) Introduction of a "patent office outsourcing" mechanism. (5) Adjustment of the information equipment security management system. (6) Implementation of routine maintenance of the company's IP inventory. (7) Expansion of employee IP training programs.
Overall, Everlight Chemical has enhanced both the quality and quantity of its IP management systems, and is heading toward the goal of an ideal IP management system. Lee was key in introducing TIPS to Everlight Chemical, and he admitted that faced a lot of challenges.
The major reason is that people don't really like change, hence they questioned TIPS. Lee says, "Supervisors of other departments didn't believe we needed to introduce TIPS. They felt TIPS is a domestic Taiwanese standard, and since Everlight focuses on the US and EU markets, why did we need TIPS? However, I believe that the basic architecture of TIPS is an IP management system, and it works globally. Our clients will be impressed if we tell them that we have good IP management specifications."
Basic Introduction of TIPS
Taiwan Intellectual Property Management System (TIPS) can assist enterprises or organizations establish a systematic IP management system. Meeting the requirements of TIPS regulations not only allows companies to addressing deficits of previous IP systems, but also manage their IP efficiently, and ultimately become more profitable.
One of the important features of TIPS is that it integrates the "Plan > Do > Action > Check" model of the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system (ISO). This model not only solves the problem of un-structured IP management, it also achieves the goal of continuous IP management system improvement.
To a certain extent, TIPS possesses public credibility, completeness and low entry barrier features as ISO does. Furthermore by introducing TIPS, companies can integrate it with into existing ISO system, reduce the overall cost of introducing TIPS and minimizing changes to the architecture of the enterprise. In addition, TIPS is not only suitable for large enterprises, it is suitable for all organizations, from one-man companies to units or a project teams within organizations.
In general, the goal of TIPS is to establish a simple and effective management system to manage the intellectual property, thus minimizing the losses caused by infringement, while enhancing profit through the licensing of IP.
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