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Start-ups and Initial Lessons on Intellectual Property

04/12/2018
Experience from both international and local start-ups proves that many organizations have advanced to the forefront only by investing in the development of intellectual property assets and applying them in business
 
Over the past decade, the startup movement (startup) has been on the rise and many young business startups have scored significant successes. However, there is a problem that many startups are only interested in developing products, calling for investment, planning marketing, selling goods while forgetting the issue of intellectual property (IP), idea and brand protection which are very important legal rights of the startup themselves.
 
According to statistics from Echelon magazine, Singapore - the largest online magazine on startups in Southeast Asia, Vietnam currently has about 3,000 start-up enterprises, nearly double the figure at the end of 2015.

Experience from both international and local start-ups proves that many organizations have advanced to the forefront only by investing in the development of intellectual property assets and applying them in business.

Analysis of AIAF in 2005 shows that the proportion of intangible assets (mainly intellectual property) on the total assets of some leading enterprises accounts for 69-89%, of which the brand values alone are from $ 29.97- 69.64 billion.

However, in Vietnam, the startup did not pay much attention to this issue. After the product enjoys some initial successes (for just 1 or 2 years), or when a dispute occurs, fake products sold in the market, they start to look into the problem but sometimes, just to realize that their copyright has been lost. Therefore, smart entrepreneurs, right at business idea formation stage, have already planned to protect their intellectual property.

Talking about this issue, Dr. Tran Le Hong, Chief of the Secretariat of the National Office of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology), said that IPR is the legal foundation for intellectual property of startups. But the reality is that the identification process of intellectual property rights and related disputes is getting more and more complex, and startups are becoming particularly vulnerable when faced with issues of law violation, disputes, litigation at very early stage.

Mr. Tran Le Hong pointed out, there are some unconventional perceptions of IPR, leading to awkward situation where startups do not invest time, money, and thinking to intellectual property. This can be seen by delayed establishment of their rights; insufficient check up to guarantee their rights and not to infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others and lack professional assessment of their IP assets.

(Source: Cong Thuong)

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