Note by Minister Indranee Rajah on Resilience with IP
Note by Minister Indranee Rajah on Resilience with IP
30 Aug 2020 Posted in Legal Industry Newsletters
Resilience with IP
COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption
You wouldn’t think that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals, Zouk, and Wildlife Reserves Singapore have much in common. But they do.
For all of them, success is based on having a live audience – whether it be lovers of musicals, partygoers, or students on excursion.
With COVID-19 preventing group outings, all of them have had to go virtual.
• Lloyd Webber’s hit musicals were broadcast free online;
• Zouk hosted virtual parties, bringing the party to people’s living rooms; and
• Wildlife Reserves Singapore launched an e-learning programme to bring the animals to the children.
In all three cases, they leveraged their intangible assets (IA), including intellectual property (IP), to seize new opportunities online.
Navigating IP issues in the digital space
As communities and businesses transform and go digital, many will find themselves navigating unfamiliar IP issues. These include:
• Obtaining copyright permissions when making existing content available digitally or creating new digital content.
• Building your brand to become a powerful tool to generate a strong online following and presence.
• Looking at the fine print (i.e., terms and conditions) to know your rights (and what rights you may be giving away) when publishing content online.
Growing with resilience through intangibles (GRIT)
It is not an easy transition for everyone. Many of us are still learning as we go.
The good news is that Government will partner you in this journey.
IPOS – together with MCCY, MTI, NAC, STB, ESG, IMDA, and SportSG – recently launched the Growing with Resilience through InTangibles (GRIT) initiative to support your IA and IP needs in the COVID-19 environment and beyond.
Under this initiative, we will work alongside communities and businesses to raise awareness of IP. Activities include:
• Introducing legal primers and legal clinics, in partnership with the National Trades Union Congress and the Law Society Pro Bono Services, to help you navigate IP-related issues.
• Providing resources through the NAC Arts Resource Hub to educate arts freelancers on copyright protection in digital performances.
• Supporting the NUS IP Students’ Association in creating an information pack for the arts and technology communities.
• Working with ESG and Eduspaze, a local education-technology (EdTech) accelerator, to create IP awareness in the education and EdTech sectors.
• Presenting a webinar, held on IP Week @ SG 2020, that features industry players in the arts and entertainment sectors who have successfully leveraged IP and IA during the COVID-19 crisis.
GRIT will also help communities and businesses access Government support schemes and grants. For example:
• Media companies can tap on IMDA’s content production funding schemes to acquire IP such as soundtracks. IMDA also supports the creation of original IP through initiatives such as WriterLabs, New Talent Feature Grant, and the Capability Partnership Programme.
• There is funding support for the arts sector for the creation and marketing of IP through NAC’s Creation Grant, Production Grant, and the Market and Audience Development Grant.
• STB’s Business Improvement Fund provides funding support for companies in the tourism sector to adopt capability development, such as business strategy, and strategic branding and marketing.
• Businesses can also tap on ESG’s Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) for their qualifying costs of IP-related services such as hiring IP service providers (e.g., IP lawyers and patent agents).
Check out IPOS’ one-stop resource page for more details.
Looking forward
We may be in the middle of battling COVID-19 now, but we must not lose sight of the future. We must think about how we can emerge from this stronger.
Beyond GRIT, we are considering how IP and IA can support Singapore’s digital transformation moving forward.
We have started working on the Singapore IP Strategy (SIPS) 2030 to guide the building of Singapore as a global IP hub.
We call on all IP practitioners and stakeholders to help us develop this strategy. Your thoughts and ideas will be very welcome as we embark on this important work. We will be reaching out to seek your views in the coming months. Do participate actively!
Last updated on 30 Aug 2020