Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

H.E. Ambassador Lundeg Purevsuren
11 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION: PUBLIC-PRIVATE COLLABORATIONS IN INNOVATION - INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO ASSISTING IN BRANDING AND PROMOTION AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
210.   Australia would like to sincerely thank Japan for leading this discussion on innovative approaches to branding and promotion and the creative industries. We were glad to join the discussion paper as a co-sponsor. 211.   In an increasingly inter-connected and hyper-competitive global economy, countries need to highlight their unique characteristics and skills, and promote the quality of their goods and services, if they wish to attract foreign buyers and investors. 212.   The limited support the Australian government provides for individual private sector brands includes occasional targeted campaigns, such as offering places on foreign trade delegations or tourism promotions. The government's business and export development programmes may indirectly boost firms' brand awareness by supporting their commercial success more broadly. These include Business Growth Grants, which can be used to engage marketing and branding advisors; Export Market Development Grants, which provide financial assistance to Australian businesses looking to develop export markets; and Australian Landing Pads, which offer residencies to startups and scaleups in key overseas markets. 213.   At the national level, the public and private sectors can together successfully shape nationwide branding strategies that benefit businesses of all sizes, and all sectors of the economy. 214.   In 2018, the Australian government launched a major initiative to develop an allencompassing 'Nation Brand' for our country. This followed the publication of the Government's Foreign and Trade Policy White Paper in 2017, which identified the need to develop a stronger "nation brand" to market our commercial, educational and cultural credentials in a competitive global market. 215.   Led by industry and coordinated by Austrade on behalf of the Australian government, the initiative is attempting to build a more consistent approach to national branding, to convey to the outside world the message that we are a nation of inventors, actors, engineers, builders, architects, athletes and innovators. 216.   Turning to the role intellectual property rights can play in the context of local innovation and public-private collaboration, we firmly believe that an effective and balanced IP environment provides certainty for stakeholders and helps stimulate the commercialisation of innovative ideas. In doing so, it can play a vital role in boosting social and economic wellbeing both at home and abroad. 217.   Furthermore, collaboration between research institutions and the business sector is an increasingly critical component of an efficient national innovation system, and central to the acquisition of knowledge and promotion of entrepreneurship. 218.   Australia has long recognized the useful role the public sector can play in supporting local artists and creative businesses through both IP protection and promotion strategies. 219.   The creative sector makes a significant contribution to Australia's society and economy, contributing AUD 112 billion, or 6.4%, of our GDP. 220.   Our experience has been that the public sector can play a lead role in raising the profile of the creative industries among key decision makers, in fostering partnerships, and encouraging the dispersal of creative skills and talents across other industries and within the public sector itself. 221.   The public sector can help by putting in place, and maintaining, robust arts funding mechanisms that support both the generation of original creative IP and the strategic promotion of this IP in potentially lucrative markets. 222.   The Australian government provides a number of funding initiatives that support Australia's arts and cultural sectors. These include:  The Australia Council, the Government's arts funding and advisory body, which offers a range of grants to Australian artists and creative businesses;  Creative Partnerships Australia, a Commonwealth company fostering a culture of private sector support for the arts in Australia and nurturing a vibrant and ambitious cultural sector; and  Screen Australia, which provides support to Australian film, television, documentary and digital media makers. 223.   By enacting legislation such as the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Act 2009, the Australian government has demonstrated the importance it attaches to providing Australian visual artists with an enduring right similar to other creators, such as songwriters or authors, who receive royalty payments from their original work.  From its launch in June 2010 to the end of April 2019, the Scheme has generated more than AUD 7 million in royalties from 18,760 resales of work by 1787 artists. Of the artists who have received a royalty payment, 63% are Indigenous. 224.   Recognizing the importance of maintaining strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, the Government's Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support programme contributes to the operations of around 80 Indigenous-owned art centres, as well as a number of service organisations, regional hubs and art fairs, which together enable around 6,000 artists to pursue a professional art practice and connect to the art market. 225.   There are also opportunities for the public sector to help the growth of creative business by harnessing the potential of arts, culture and creativity to support outcomes in other areas of public policy, such as cities and liveability, education and tourism. For example, many local governments invest in creative precincts that may assist with urban regeneration and/or increase liveability for residents, but that also create opportunities for artists and creative businesses. Many governments also invest in creative content as a major events drawcard that can attract tourism and generate economic outcomes for local businesses outside the creative sector. 226.   I would like to turn now to the question of how the public sector can help the private sector develop expertise in IP management. 227.   Australia's IP Office, IP Australia, offers a number of initiatives dedicated to this goal, with a particular focus on start-ups and MSMEs. These include targeted workshops and webinars that provide basic information on IP rights, and highlight the importance of protecting one's brand and ideas as part of a broader business strategy. 228.   IP Australia has developed a variety of publicly-available tools ranging from collaboration checklists to model confidentiality agreements. 229.   Australia also supports innovation and commercialization by providing public sector patent holders with a platform for highlighting licensing opportunities and promoting their research outcomes. In particular, our 'Source IP' platform, accessible on the IP Australia website, provides a forum for bringing businesses and public research institutions together. 230.   In addition, IP Australia works with incubation hubs to spread the word about the importance of IP for start-ups and entrepreneurs. For example, workshops are held at local incubator hubs, coworking spaces and Business Enterprise Centres across Australia focusing on patents and trademarks, tools to foster understanding of the benefits of patent protection, practical skills relating to patent applications, and maximising the value of brands through the use of trademarks. 231.   In terms of the lessons we have learned in creating innovative models using our local intellectual property rights, IP Australia has developed a variety of publicly-available tools to help users identify potential pitfalls and ensure the confidentiality of sensitive information. These range from collaboration checklists to model confidentiality agreements. 232.   Furthermore, IP Australia provides educational materials to entrepreneurs and SMEs via the agency's website, on topics as diverse as 'Doing business in China' and 'Commercialisation of IP Rights'. 233.   To sum up, Australia has long recognized the vital role that IP rights can play in supporting commercial and national brands, and the creative industries.
The Council took note of the statements made.
43.   The Chair said that the item had been put on the agenda at the request of Australia; Canada, Chile; the European Union; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Switzerland; Singapore; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; and the United States. A communication had also been circulated in document IP/C/W/653 and Add.1.
44.   The representatives of Japan; Australia; the United States of America; Chinese Taipei; Switzerland; Singapore; Canada; Chile; the European Union; the Republic of Korea; Benin, on behalf of the LDC Group; Ukraine, Colombia; Norway; the Russian Federation; Mexico, China, Indonesia, India, Brazil and Peru took the floor.
45.   The Council took note of the statements made.
IP/C/M/92, IP/C/M/92/Add.1, IP/C/M/92/Corr.1