BIP Asia has a golden opportunity to become the world’s ‘center of excellence’ for this business.

1. G
iustino de Sanctis
is a notable partici-
pant at this year’s
Business of IP Asia
Forum (BIP Asia) to be held
in December. He is one of the
masterminds behind certain
rather significant joint-licens-
ing programs in consumer
electronics.
He structured and man-
aged the licensing program
for Audio MPEG’s MP3 audio
format, often referred to as
one of the most successful
efforts to licence a consumer
electronics innovation. He
also launched joint-licensing
programs for 4G LTE and
802.11, or Wi-Fi.
Having spent more than
two decades working in
licensing, earlier this year, the
former IP lawyer established
Vectis, an IP technology and
licensing business. He is the
firm’s chief executive.
Experience, says de Sanctis,
has taught him the impor-
tance of simplifying access to
IP rights for widely-adopted,
standardised technology.
The aggregation of patents
was one added-value solution
for companies working with
technology, he says. “Patent
aggregation clearly helps
implementers access relevant
IP while reducing transaction
costs for all parties involved,”
he said.
He said Vectis has recently
started working on a Wi-Fi
licensing program which
includes patents originally
filed by Ericsson and Pana-
sonic that are now owned by
WiFi One.
“This program runs in the
context of a patent aggrega-
tion format and a great deal
of time has been spent to
carefully design a licensing
program which offers a non-
exclusive, royalty-bearing
license to third parties on fair,
reasonable, and non-discrim-
inatory terms,” he said.
“Efforts are ongoing to
further aggregate and offer
licensees an even greater
value.”
“We believe in the value
of sharing innovation. This
simple, yet very powerful
statement, distinguishes
us from the traditional IP-
based licensing models that
focuses on the monetization
of IP,” said de Sanctis, adding,
“Vectis was founded on the
belief that innovation repre-
sents one of the core values
and true potentials of our
economy and that sharing of
innovation and sharing of the
costs of innovation are both
essential for the technology’s
continued advancement.”
“We are working to connect
patent owners with product
makers, forging long-lasting,
mutually beneficial collabo-
rations, and bringing added
value to every party involved
in the process,” he said.
“Throughout this process
we continue to work with
licensees for licensors and
with licensors for licens-
ees and to design balanced
programmes with the right
terms for the specific market
addressed to that specific IP.”
When it comes to the key
issue in IP-licensing strate-
gies in technology, de Sanctis
says a complex global mar-
ket and a switched-on world
means there is an increasing
complexity vis-a-vis the rights
a company has to acquire, to
design and sell a product or
service.
“Some have referred to this
phenomenon as a ‘patent
thicket’, highlighting the dif-
ficulties of obtaining the nec-
essary licenses and putting a
negative spin on it,” he said.
“The reality is that prod-
ucts today are extremely
rich in technology and as a
consequence the technology
utilized is covered by many
patents.
“There is a real need for
a new approach to address
this complexity. For me, the
particular issues that need
to be confronted are lack of
clarity, fragmentation, and
often, absence of transparen-
cy or asymmetric information
sharing in the IP-licensing
industry.”
The future of IP licensing,
says de Sanctis, lies in the
industry recognizing that the
benefits and the costs of inno-
vation have to be shared.
“We have to take a step
back and not just focus on IP,
but rather on the technology
itself and also on the process-
es that regulate the commer-
cial success of the technology
in the market,” he said.
“The key is to design the
programme with a ‘technol-
ogy transfer’ program, rather
than exclusively as an IP-
licensing program.”
Himself the inventor of a
patent on how to allocate rev-
enues among different pat-
ent owners in joint-licensing
deals, de Sanctis is moderat-
ing one of the plenary ses-
sions at this year’s BIP Asia on
the theme of “Global Trends
for IP-Licensing Strategies”.
Vectis is the gold sponsor
of BIP Asia, to be held from
December 3 to 4 at the Hong
Kong Convention and Exhibi-
tion Centre.
BIP Asia — jointly organ-
ised by the Hong Kong SAR
Government, Hong Kong
Trade Development Council
and Hong Kong Design Centre
— will see IP professionals and
leaders from around the world
gather in Hong Kong to dis-
cuss key IP issues and trends.
Hong Kong’s position as
the business hub of Asia, said
de Sanctis, made it an ideal
focal point for IP profession-
als to meet and help facilitate
the discussion among key
stake-holders to find balance
in licensing solutions.
“BIP Asia has a golden
opportunity to become the
world’s ‘Centre of Excellence’
for this business,” he said.
“This best practice or ‘Cen-
tre of Excellence’ platform
can only be a positive move
for Hong Kong and the whole
of the region with respect to
the business of IP licensing
and trade.”
“Knowledge-based capital
is the cornerstone of techno-
logical advancement. When
handled fairly and shared
equally, the whole of this
dynamic region will benefit
economically.”
Jointlyproducedby
HongKongTradeDevelopmentCouncilandChinaDaily
The new share market
Research into the ingredi-
ents used in a traditional Chi-
nese medicine may offer new
hope to sufferers of Alzheim-
er’s disease and other degen-
erative brain disorders.
A Hong Kong Baptist Uni-
versity research team is look-
ing into the use of Huang
Lian Jie Du Tang (HLJDT)
to treat the symptoms and
reverse some of the neuro-
logical changes of one of the
key causes of dementia.
Professor Li Min and her
team from the School of Chi-
nese Medicine have modi-
fied the traditional formula
of HLJDT for detoxification
and removing heat from the
body, and demonstrated that
the modified formula can sig-
nificantly remove the aggre-
gation of proteins and the
amino acids called Amyloid
beta, which are commonly
found in the brains of suffer-
ers of Alzheimer’s.
Prior research found that
HLJDT had significant
positive effects in treating
inflammation, inadequate
blood supply or cerebral
ischemia, and tumours. From
the technical point of view,
their modified HLJDT gives
greater therapeutic and phar-
macological benefits in the
treatment of Alzheimer’s –
with minimal side-effects.
Dr Alfred Tan, head of
knowledge transfer office of
Hong Kong Baptist Univer-
sity, has a mission to enable
knowledge transfers through
the community engagement
such as facilitating the col-
laborations between the uni-
versity and industry. Dr Tan
described that Alzheimer’s
and Parkinson’s disease are
two of the most prevalent
neurodegenerative diseases
in the world, and the HLJDT
research was significant giv-
en the prevalence of ageing
and genetically–linked disor-
ders among elderlies.
According to statistics, the
prevalence of Alzheimer’s for
those aged over 60 ranges
from 5 to 7 per cent world-
wide. It was estimated that
35.6 million people lived with
dementia worldwide in 2010,
with numbers expected to
almost double every 20 years
to 65.7 million in 2030. For
Parkinson’s, there are about
10 million patients world-
wide, whereas six million
patients are in China. More-
over, for 2015, over 9.9 mil-
lion new cases of dementia
each year worldwide, imply-
ing one new case every 3.2
seconds is estimated (source:
http://www.alz.co.uk/
research/world-report-2015).
Dr Tan mentioned that the
current treatments for both
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
produce only mild, symp-
tomatic relief and do not halt
progression of dementia. For
example, just five drugs have
been approved by the United
States Food and Drug Admin-
istration for use by neurolo-
gists for the management of
Alzheimer’s. Since there is
no cure for Alzheimer’s dis-
ease at the moment, once
the modified HLJDT is reg-
istered as a drug, it would
bring in tremendous income.
Dr Durairajan SSK from
Prof Li’s team has been rec-
ognised by a grant from
the Health and Medical
Research Fund provided
by Hong Kong’s Food and
Health Bureau. The funding
supports in vivo research
into the HLJDT compound,
which the team call Neuro-
Defend, and its therapeutic
effects when used in combi-
nation with metamine.
Besides, a HK$5-million
donation received in Janu-
ary has been used to estab-
lish a research centre at the
School of Chinese Medicine
to support the study in phar-
maceuticals derived from tra-
ditional Chinese medicines.
Recently, Prof Li and her
team are being engaged in
a pharmaceutical company
to co-develop herbal supple-
ments which may help pro-
tect the human nervous sys-
tem from the damage caused
by ageing.
Dr Tan believed that there
were potentially broader
applications for Professor
Li’s research beyond treating
Alzheimer’s.
“The next goal is to extract
several major monomers
in the formulation and cre-
ate a new drug in molecu-
lar size for the treatment of
Alzheimer’s disease through
the investigation of molecu-
lar interactions,” Prof Li said.
The patent for Prof Li’s
HJDT is currently assigned
to the university and has not
yet been licensed out but Dr
Tan acknowledged the poten-
tial was huge.
The university’s Knowl-
edge Transfer Office plays
a crucial role; for example,
assisting in the protection of
the university’s intellectual
properties and commerciali-
sation of inventions and seek-
ing new partnerships.
The patent is currently
available on the Asia IP
Exchange, a free online plat-
form and database showcas-
ing intellectual properties
around the world. Owned
and managed by the Hong
Kong Trade Development
Council, the platform has
more than 25,000 tradable
IP listings, and its goal is to
promote international IP
trade and connect global IP
players.
“The ever-growing num-
ber of patients afflicted by
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
triggers the development of
new drugs by many of the big
pharmaceutical companies,”
Dr Tan said.
“Once a drug with high
efficacy is developed, it would
bring enormous impacts to
the society and economy.”
Key to future Alzheimer’s
treatment lies in the past
IP training
delivers more
for SMEs
The futureofIPlicensing,saysGiustino deSanctis,liesin theindustry recognizing
thatthebenefitsandthecostsofinnovation haveto beshared.
14 HKTDC | IP Asia Wednesday, October 28, 2015 CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION
CHINADAILYchinadaily.com.cn RMB ¥1.5
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Dr Alfred Tan, head of
knowledge transfer office, Hong
Kong Baptist University, said
that Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
disease are two of the most
prevalent neurodegenerative
diseases in the world, and the
HLJDT research was significant
given the prevalence of ageing
and genetically–linked disorders
among elderlies.
Giustino de Sanctis believes in the value of sharing innovation as it
distinguishes them from the traditional IP-based licensing models.
BIP Asia has a golden op-
portunity to become the
world’s ‘Centre of Excellence’ for
this business.”
Giustino de Sanctis, chief executive of Vectis
The importance of
Asia’s most significant
event for intellectual
property has been ampli-
fied by the addition of
the two-day IP Manager
Training Programme to
be held concurrently with
the Business of IP Asia
Forum on Dec 3-4.
The Hong Kong SAR
Government Intellectual
Property Department has
launched the IP Manager
Scheme to assist Hong
Kong firms, especially
small and medium enter-
prises, to build their IP
capacity by improving
human resources. A sec-
ond goal is to improve
competitiveness through
better IP management
that will unlock opportu-
nities in IP trading.
The scheme hopes to
encourage the appoint-
ment of in-house IP
managers through Hong
Kong’s SMEs who will be
responsible for oversee-
ing the compliance, man-
agement, exploitation
and commercialisation
of IP assets.
The IP Manager Train-
ing Programme will show
how firms can unlock
their creative potential
through IP protection,
management and invest-
ment. The program will
be led by IP professionals
and take place during BIP
Asia.
Apart from the training
program, BIP Asia will see
experts from the World
Intellectual Property
Organisation, Google,
some of the world’s big-
gest universities and
research and develop-
ment centres share their
experiences with the
audience in Hong Kong.
Other thematic tracks
including IP practical
tips, industry-specific IPs
and Asian trends will also
be featured in the plenary
and breakout sessions at
BIP Asia.
Attendees at the BIP
Asia Forum will have the
chance to speak to rep-
resentatives from IP ser-
vices providers such as
Vectis, Marks and Clerk,
China Patent Agent and
Transpacific IP, each of
whom will provide onsite
consultations at the BIP
Asia Exhibition.
HongKong
researchersare
huntingforasignificant
breakthroughinthe
treatmentofAlzheimer’s
diseasebystudying
traditionalChinese
medicine.
A Hong Kong Baptist University research team has successfully used the Huang Lian Jie Du Tang (HLJDT) to treat the symptoms
and reverse some of the neurological changes of one of the key causes of dementia. Its potential for commercial use is significant.
Register for the IP Manager
Scheme:
Register for the IP Manager
Training Programme: