KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Kong is urging Malaysian companies to venture into its intellectual property (IP) market, which last year established itself as the second largest in the world, after New York.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) assistant executive director, Raymond Yip, said the IP value amounted to US$21 billion in 2013.
“Hong Kong has a vibrant marketplace and has shifted from protection of IPs to become assets to finance business,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar jointly organised by HKTDC and the Intellectual Property Corp of Malaysia (MyIPO).
The seminar gave the attendees a guide to the potential IP marketplace players and the landscape locally whilst touching on two interesting marketplace models in both the United States and Denmark.
“We provide IP owners and generators with an overview of the commercial opportunities with HKTDC and leveraging on Hong Kong as a potential business hub for Malaysian IP rights,” Yip said.
Late last year, MyIPO Director General Datuk Azizan Mohamad Sidin signed a letter of understanding with HKTDC in Hong Kong allowing both parties to create a platform for Malaysian IP right holders and Hong Kong IP owners to buy, sell, license and transact their products, solutions and services via a collaborative channel.
Azizan said: “With HKTDC as a partner, MyIPO believes that it will offer the IP community in both countries a variety of platforms and business-matching services, which would be able to connect small and medium enterprises in both Malaysia and Hong Kong with business partners from all over the world.”
MyIPO, the agency that has been mandated by the Malaysian government in preparing IP to be an asset class used for security, is focusing on driving IP valuation and IP financing initiatives.
One prerequisite is a strong IP marketplace for IP transactions, and this marketplace seminar is a step in that direction.
MyIPO, an agency under the purview of the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry, is responsible for the development and administration of IP rights system in Malaysia. — Bernama