SIPO, JPO and KIPO Commissioners Meet for 16th Trilateral Policy Dialogue Meeting

The 16th Trilateral Policy Dialogue Meeting between the commissioners of China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) was held on Dec. 8 in Odawara in Japan. SIPO commissioner Shen Changyu, met with his counterparts JPO commissioner Yoshinori Komiya and KIPO commissioner Choi Dongyou to discuss cooperation on patent examinations, automation, industrial design, patent reexamination and human resources management. Bilateral talks between the three IP heads were also held from Dec. 7-8.

Following on from these talks, the Japan-Korea-China IP Symposium was held on Dec. 9, with a keynote speech from Ryu Takabayashi, a law professor at Waseda University and lectures from Ryuichi Shitara, chief judge of Japan’s IP High court, Park Taeil, presiding judge in charge of IP rights at the Supreme Court of Korea, and Ma Wenxin, director of the Administrative Litigation Division of the Patent Reexamination Board of SIPO. The speakers then engaged in a roundtable discussion on product-by-process claims and IP litigation.

It was also announced that the 17th Trilateral Policy Dialogue Meeting will be held in Korea.

Taiwan Finance Regulator VC Urges Banks to Get up to Speed on Big Data and FinTech

Financial organizations must get up to speed in terms of using smartphone communications, big data analysis and social networks in their operations in order to open up new opportunities in a competitive business landscape, according to Cheng Mount-chen, vice chair of Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), as cited by Taiwan's Economic Daily News.

He made the comments as part of his opening remarks at the "Big Data for FinTech Bank 3.0" conference held by the newspaper in cooperation with Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co. on Dec. 19 in Taipei.

In the run up to the event, Cheng cited research which predicted that profits from big data and related analytic applications will grow by at least 50%, from the US$12.2 billion in 2015 to US$18.7 billion by 2019, according to the paper.

Cheng stated that more and more financial institutions are making use of big data analysis and applying it to things such as product design, claim settlement estimates and judging people's eligibility for loans.

The proportion of e-payments in Taiwan in the first six months of 2016 has risen to 30% from the 26% for 2015, with the figure expected to rise to 32% by year’s end, according to the head of the FSC’s Information Management Department Tsai Fu-lung, as cited by the paper. This suggests that the FSC may be on track to reach their target of 52% by 2020.

The Finance Committee of the Legislative Yuan reviewed a “regulatory sandbox” bill aimed at helping technology firms gain entry to the financial arena, however, this has stirred up tensions between the tech and finance sectors, with some in the banking industry expressing concerns about new entrants to the market.

Zheng stated in the run up to the conference that although he stands with industry there are bound to be some areas of conflict, and that ultimately the FSC has to look after consumer interests.

Beijing Tech Hub Zhongguancun Launches Standardization Association

Beijing technology hub Zhongguancun established a standardization association on Dec. 16, according to the Beijing’s state-run English-language newspaper, China Daily.

Seven standards, relating to the new energy, intelligent transportation, health care and IT sectors, were released at the association’s launch ceremony and the association signed an agreement with the Bank of Beijing on financial standards, according to the paper.

The association will serve as a platform for the setting of industry standards and will serve as a channel of communication between government and industry, Beijing vice mayor Sui Zhenjiang was cited by the paper as stating.

Sui stated that the Beijing government will establish a standardization commission as well as launching pilot schemes to hone policy, according to the paper. He added that the association hopes to be able to facilitate innovative Chinese firms in taking part in international standard setting.

The Zhongguancun Science Park has released 6,146 standards to date, 229 of which apply internationally, the paper reported.

FinTech Case at Beijing IP Court Sees Highest Damages Yet, Clarified Criteria for Attorney Fees Award

On Dec. 8 the Beijing Intellectual Property Court handed down a judgment on an invention patent infringement case brought by Beijing-based data security solution provider WatchData against Beijing-based rival Hengbao. WatchData was awarded the highest damages the court has ever given in a patent infringement case to date, at RMB¥49 million (US$7 million), as well as being awarded compensation for legal costs of RMB¥1 million (US$143,840), according to the Chinese-language Beijing Morning Post.

It was the first time that an hourly rate has been used for calculating lawyers’ fees in a judgment and the first time that the three criteria for a decision to award legal costs -- the necessity of hiring representation, the difficulty of the case and the amount of work undertaken by the legal team -- have been confirmed.

The disputed patent, with the publication number CN1913429A , relates to a physical authentication method and a device for realizing it. WatchData claimed that a USB device that Hengbao sold to over several banks across the country for use in authentication for online banking, infringed its patent. Hengbao denied that it had infringed the patent and suggested that WatchData did not have sufficient evidence for the damages they sought. The court calculated damages on the basis of a reasonable profit on each device sold for the banks it had the sales records for and inferred from Hengbao’s refusal to provide sales figures for three of the banks it sold to that WatchData’s damages claim was reasonable.

The court stated that using the hourly rate by which law firms pay their lawyers was a reasonable standard for judging legal fees.

KIPO Harvests Expired Patents to Help Indonesia Launch Herbal Oil Research Center

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) launched an herbal essential oil research center at the Syiah Kuala University of Indonesia on December 8th, 2016, according to KIPO commissioner Choi Donggyu.

The essential oil research center forms part of KIPO’s IP Sharing Project.

Around 100 guests were present at the opening ceremony, including Lim Hyun-suk, director of KIPO’s Multilateral Affairs Division, Amhar Abubakar, lieutenant governor of Aceh Province, Dr. Nazamuddin, vice rector of Syiah Kuala University, Baek Inhong, director of the Korea Invention Promotion Association. A memorandum of understanding on research cooperation was signed during the ceremony.

KIPO has worked on the development and promotion of technologies taken from a data pool of 270 million patents, to assist developing countries. KIPO has been providing its assistance to least developed countries (LDCs) and developing countries by using expired patents, to help solve day-to-day problems and increase household income.

KIPO has developed 15 different technologies and promoted them in 11 countries. The office has also worked with 11 developing countries to launch 12 brands.

In 2016, KIPO provided the Indonesian province, Aceh, with technology which extracts oil from Patchouli, a type of herb grown in this area. The old oil extractor was susceptible to rust and produced oil of uneven quality. However, the new oil extractor exploits 5 different technologies which were developed on the basis of 590 patent documents.

To help rural people sell patchouli oil products in the market, KIPO has developed a brand for the patchouli oil. Isfani Yunus, president of the Aceh Patchouli Forum said that the oil extractors developed by KIPO are easy to use and produce high quality oil and that the patchouli oil brand will help bring more income to local people.

The director general of KIPO’s Intellectual Property Protection & International Cooperation Bureau, Park Seong-Jjoon, said that KIPO’s development model is providing a vision of hope through intellectual property, and he went on to say that KIPO will continue to reduce the IP divide through its IP sharing projects and to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries.

Chang Hwa Bank to File Eight FinTech Patents in Q4

Taiwan’s Chang Hwa Bank, is set to complete eight FinTech-related utility model applications in Q4, according to Taipei-based China Times.

The government has been pushing for banks in which it owns shares to apply for FinTech patents over the last year.

Privately-owned Taiwan Business Bank, is set to apply for 12 FinTech patents by the end of the year, including a system for paying medical fees and a smart branch and First Bank has already been granted 16 utility model patents, including overseas branch bank services.

Chang Hwa Bank also hopes to appeal to the younger generation of bank customers by using an online chat service to deal with inquiries and to incorporate AI into its systems, for text and voice recognition in the future.

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