Independent patent system to be introduced: AG

LOCAL inventors and innovators would be able to create, develop and commercialise new technologies and innovations to their advantage, when an independent patent system will be implemented later this year, said Attorney-general (AG) Datin Paduka Hjh Hayati POKSDSP Hj Mohd Salleh yesterday.

During the launch of the Intellectual Property (IP) Policy at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Datin Hjh Hayati reiterated her call for an establishment of a formal lead agency in Brunei or other suitable institutions to formulate policies akin to national and international obligations that are tasked to advise and administer laws to promote IP awareness and infrastructure.

"This would also serve to facilitate development of IP in Brunei and serve as IP regulator and policy advisor," she said.

The AG also said that industry and enterprises in the private sector should be encouraged to plough much greater funding in research and development (R&D).

She also lauded and congratulated UBD's move in setting up the Innovation and Enterprise Office (IEO) and referred to the move as a "bold initiative".

"Dynamic, interactive links between industry and R&D instituitions (whether publicly funded or private) as well as research-based departments in universities should be encouraged and strengthened," she said.

The IEO, through its Patent and Information and Documentation Unit, will play an important role in encouraging a more systematic use of patent information by researchers and business enterprises, she added. "Patent search enables identification of both trend in R&D as well as the most recent and leading technologies."

The AG also cited examples from other established IP authorities to be used as models to consider, such as the IP Office of Singapore, under its Ministry of Law, and the corporatised IP Corporation of Malaysia.

Datin Hjh Hayati stressed that an IP system is one of the cornerstones in modern economic policy and a catalyst for development, as it will increasingly become an important tool for sustainable development in a knowledge-based society.

"Effectively managed, the system has considerable economic value since IP signifies advancing knowledge in the form of new ideas, techniques, designs, processes and products having economic and commercial potential," she said.

The Brunei Times