Glossary

ASEAN - The Association of South East Asian Nations: ASEAN was founded in 1967 with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (or Bangkok Declaration) by the founding members Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia have joined to constitute the current ten Member States of ASEAN.

Arbitration - Arbitration is one of the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that parties may use to settle their disputes instead of going to court. Under this mechanism, the final decision is awarded by a neutral third party (‘arbitrator’) and shall be binding.

Author (Copyright) - An author is the creator of a work. In order to be considered an author, it is generally acknowledged that a certain level of creative contribution to a work must be met. Authorship entails certain moral rights, such as the right to attribution (i.e., to be named as the author), that cannot be transferred or licensed, and therefore will stay with the author even in a situation where he/she does not own the copyright.

Confidentiality Agreement - A confidentiality agreement or non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a private legally binding contract whereby valuable information is kept safe. It establishes the conditions under which one party (the disclosing party) discloses information in confidence to another party (the receiving party). All types of information can be transmitted in these agreements, such as ideas, know-how and descriptions of inventions or business information. The common characteristic though is that the disclosed information is valuable for the disclosing party to the extent that it must be kept away from the public domain. A confidentiality agreement is crucial for SMEs in business negotiations and for employers in relation to their employees.

Copyright - Copyright is a legal term which refers to the rights granted to authors, artists and other creators for their creations. Copyright entitles the owners of literary and artistic works to a set of exclusive rights over their works that they can assign to others. These rights, generally, include:

• copying;
• translating;
• adapting and altering;
• communicating and performing to the public;
• distributing;
• renting and lending copies.

Copyright grants two kinds of prerogatives:

• economic rights;
• moral rights;

So-called ‘economic rights’ enable right holders to control the use of their works. These rights normally take the form of exclusive rights and include the right to reproduce , distribute, exhibit, perform, broadcast, disseminate on information networks, adapt, translate and communicate the work to the public.

The author of a copyrighted work also has the right to claim authorship, as well as the right to object to a distortion and mutilation of the work that may be detrimental to his honour or reputation. These rights are generally known as ‘moral rights’. Moral rights may include the right to decide on when or whether to make the work public, the right to claim authorship of the work and the right to object to any derogatory action in relation to the work. Moral rights are personal and cannot be waived, licensed or transferred.

Counterfeiting – Counterfeiting is the practice of imitating genuine goods, often of inferior quality, with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product. Counterfeiting may violate protections under trade mark, copyright, patent or design laws. An example of counterfeiting would be selling products imitating genuine goods under a brand name without the brand owner’s authorisation.

Customs – Customs are the governmental agency authorised to collect duties levied by a government (such as taxes) imposed on imported and, less commonly, exported goods. Their objective is also implementation of trade enforcement measures including checking and detaining suspected infringing goods crossing a border.

Disclosure (Patents) – Disclosure refers to making an invention available to the public. A disclosure made outside the patent system, deliberately or not, will make the invention unpatentable. Within the patent system, all patent applications must describe the invention clearly and completely enough to be carried out by a person specialised in the given field. In return a patent protection (exclusive rights for a limited time period) will be granted.

Enforcement (IP) - Enforcement is the act of making sure IP rules are adhered to or obeyed. It refers to actions, remedies, measures and procedures by which authorities or victims of infringement act in an organised manner to enforce IP rights by discovering, punishing and holding the infringers accountable for the associated damage. This includes, among others, stopping unauthorised use, deterring future infringements, and obtaining recovery for damages resulting from the infringing act.

There are four main avenues of enforcement: administrative actions, civil litigation, criminal prosecution and customs seizures.

Geographical indications (GIs) - A Geographical Indication is a name or a sign used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, a reputation or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin.

Novelty (for patents) – For an invention to be new, it must not have been previously made available to the public e.g. previously disclosed to the public. In countries with an absolute novelty requirement, any enabling disclosure, anywhere in the world, in any language, could destroy the novelty of an invention. Countries may differ on the type of disclosure which would destroy novelty. In Singapore, for example, any form of enabling disclosure whether in printed material, oral or otherwise could potentially be novelty-destroying.

Patents– A patent is an exclusive right granted for the protection of new inventions, which are products or processes offering new technical solutions or providing new ways of doing something. The product or process in question must be applicable in industry. Patent protection lasts for a limited period of time, usually 20 years. In return for this legal monopoly of limited duration, the owner of a patent must disclose the invention to the public.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – SMEs are companies with less than 250 employees and with either a turnover of less than or equal to EUR 50 million, or a balance sheet total of less than or equal to EUR 43 million.

Technology transfer - Is as transfer of new technologies from one organisation (e.g. universities and research institutions) to other organisation (e.g. parties capable of commercialisation).

A technology transfer not only includes transfer between organisations but also between different industrial sectors..

Trade fairs – Trade fairs are exhibitions which allow companies in a certain industry to showcase their products or services. Although attending a trade fair or exhibition in ASEAN can reap substantial benefits, SMEs should be aware of the associated risks from exposing IP to potential infringers.

Trade marks - Generally speaking, a trade mark is a sign which serves on the market to distinguish the goods and/or services of one undertaking from the goods and/or services of others, and over which the owner has an exclusive right. Trade marks are words, logos, devices or other distinctive features which can be represented graphically. In some ASEAN countries, such as Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, they may also consist of the shape of goods or their packaging in three-dimensional form.

Trade marks are an essential part of the identity of goods and services. They help deliver brand recognition, i.e. they distinguish your company from the competition. They also help to build trust, reputation and goodwill for your company, as well as play an important role in marketing and advertising.

Trade secrets – While the conditions for protection guaranteed by a trade secret may vary from country to country, typically three general standards exist which are referred to in Article 39 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). A trade secret is information that:

- is not generally known to the public (kept as confidential);

- confers some sort of economic benefit on its holder;

- is the subject of reasonable efforts by the rightful holder of the information to maintain its secrecy (e.g., through confidentiality agreements).

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), any confidential business or industrial information (including sales methods, distribution methods, consumer profiles, advertising strategies, lists of suppliers and clients, and manufacturing processes) which provides an enterprise a competitive edge may be considered a trade secret.. Most theft of trade secrets cases involvs current or former employees. Protection of trade secrets is not applied uniformly across ASEAN; visit our IP Factsheets for country-specific information.

For more details about the above terms and concepts, you can also check out the China IPR SME Helpdesk and the EU IPR Helpdesk.