Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

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BENCHMARKING NATIONAL AND REGIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR SMES IN THE FIELD OF INTELLECTUAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY
modes of organisation differ with respect to the administration, location and
offered services. Some Centres are operated by regional development agencies,
some by chambers of commerce; some are attached to libraries of (technical)
universities. In order to offer a better insight into the mechanism of the services
offered, the German Patent Information Centres will in selected parts be described
more specifically by using the example of the Patent Centre in Stuttgart which is
part of the Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart (the local government of the city of
Stuttgart).
The PIC Stuttgart
The objectives of the PIC Stuttgart are in particular:
� Creating awareness for the importance of IPRs;
� Providing patent information sources (databanks, CDs/DVDs) in a
suitable manner to economic actors, especially private inventors,
enterprise starters and SMEs;
� Providing assistance and advice to start-ups, SMEs, private
inventors with regard to research of IPRs and other types of
patent information;
� Executing of patent searches on behalf of clients for a fee;
� Providing supplementary information services, such as technical
documents technical regulations and norms.
The main goal of the PIC Stuttgart is to familiarise enterprises, especially
SMEs with IPR related issues, such as patents, trade marks, utility models
and registered designs. If an interested party seeks information outside the
scope of formal IPR, information on informal protection methods or related
issues are also offered to SMEs, but less often. In addition, the PIC Stuttgart
promotes the understanding and use of the patent system also by offering
free initial consultation for inventors and SMEs, organised in co-operation
with local patent attorneys. Although SMEs are assisted in finding ways
other than patents to protect their IP, knowledge management know-how
including information on IPR management strategies are not within the
scope of PIC Stuttgart.
German PICs target especially SMEs, but are generally open to all kinds of
enterprises. No restrictions are in place for certain industries or technology
fields. A regional focus is given by the fact that PICs have been set up in
almost every federal state, thus guaranteeing Germany-wide accessibility of
the services. Furthermore, as all PICs co-operate with the German PO, it is
an important opportunity for the PO to be present at the regional level.
The services offered by PIC Stuttgart target only the first phases of the patenting
process, such as prior state of the art research (or research into existing IPRs in
general) and the application/ registration process (but not the utilisation phase or
the subject of IPR acquisition). Other German PICs may offer some kind of support
and advice in other phases of IPR usage. Overall, the support scope is expanding:
11 PICs have concluded special agreements with the Patent Office that allow them
to accept patent and utility model applications which are transferred to the German
PO.
One of the reasons for the specific focus on patents is, according to the service
providers, the rapidly advancing industrialisation of Asian countries (i.e. China).
Many (German) SMEs, especially in the manufacturing sector, which used to
protect their IP by informal protection mechanisms such as trade secrets, are said
to nowadays recognise the necessity to protect their IP by formal protection
mechanisms such as patents. These developments also contributed to the renaming
of the institutions from “Patent Display Centre” (Patentauslegestelle) to “Patent
Information Centre”. The PIC Stuttgart nonetheless also underlines the importance
of other IP protection means, but seems most of these tools outside the scope of
the centres.