Xuất bản thông tin Xuất bản thông tin

IP VIETNAM cooperated with JPO and ERIA to organize a workshop to train and practice searching for patent information. The conference was held in a live format combined with online streaming from 5th- 6th December, 2022 in Hanoi. This event attracted nearly 100 participants from institutes, universities, industrial property agencies and enterprises.

On the side  of Japanese experts, there attended in person in Hanoi  Mr. Toru Furuichi, Director General of Research Administration and Policy Design of ERIA; Mr. Fumihiko Moriya, visiting professor of Kanazawa Institute of Technology; Mr. Yoshitoshi Tanaka, professor emeritus of Tokyo Institute of Technology; and Mr. Nishimoto Koji, JICA's expert in Vietnam. The workshop also included online presentations by Mr. Takashi Koyama, Patent Attorney (Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners), former Director of Intellectual Property Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan; and Mr. Yorihisa Katsunuma, General Manager of Intellectual Property Department of Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

On the side of IP VIETNAM, there were Mr. Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director General and presenters from the Industrial Property Information Center, namely Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Director; Mr. Bui Duy Nghia, Deputy Director; and Ms. Le Thi Quynh Hoa.

Mr. Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director General of the IP Vietnam, was ing the opening speech.

Mr. Toru Furuichi, Director General of ERIA was delivering the opening speech

Although it plays an important role in the research, development, production and business process, industrial property information in general, as well as patent information in particular, has been left an unexploited resource. This is a problem not only of Vietnam but also of many other countries in the world,as said by Mr. Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director General of the IP Vietnam at the workshop: “For a long time, the effectiveness of the patent protection system has often been assessed based on the exploitation of benefits related to patent right rather than based on the exploitation of patent information,”. “In Vietnam, the following reasons can be listed: Patent information has not yet become an urgent need of universities, research institutes and businesses; The communication on patent information has not been deep and wide, so the public's awareness is still limited; The language barrier makes it difficult to read and understand patent information…”.

In an effort to overcome these problems, IP Vietnam has coordinated with ERIA and JPO to organize this training workshop to disseminate skills in exploiting and using patent information. “The workshop will provide the necessary knowledge to search for patent information more quickly and conveniently,” said Mr. Toru Furuichi, General Director of ERIA.

“I believe that the shared knowledge from Japanese experts will be valuable lessons for IP VIETNAM as well as the Vietnamese public in promoting the exploitation of patent information, turning it into a really important resource in the process of research, development, production and business”, commented Mr. Nguyen Van Bay.

Organizers and delegates who attended directly in Hanoi

With the guidance of experts from Japan and the National Office of Intellectual Property, the participants in the workshop were guided in detail on how to search and exploit patent information through 7 topics: Overview about inventions and search for patent information; Introduction to Vietnamese and foreign patent databases (WIPO, EPO, USPTO, JPO...); Exploiting patent information for revenue models; Patent information search purposes; Strategies for searching patent information; Instructions on the steps of searching on domestic and foreign databases; Explanation of inventions to be searched.

A special feature is that besides the lectures, the seminar also organized a competition to search patent information on the basis of real situations. Practice combined with comments and assessments from the organizers will help participants gain more experience, thereby improving their search skills. On the second day, the delegates participated in a "competition" on searching for patent information. With a competitive atmosphere, the teams finished the exercise. The Organizing Committee has received 13 entries from the participants in both face-to-face and online formats.

The organizing committee evaluates the entries

Mr. Toru Furuichi presents the medal to the second place team

Mr. Toru Furuichi presents the medal to the third place team

At the end of the workshop, the delegates expressed their thanks to the National Office of Intellectual Property and ERIA and JPO for giving them the opportunity to gain more knowledge and improve their patent search skills for other purposes. Delegates also wished that similar workshops will continue to be held in Vietnam.

                                                                                                                                       Author: Thanh An – Thu Hien

                                                                                                                                       Translator: Nhat Quang