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Innovation before entry into the EU: the case of Slovenia

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 16; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1463137042000223877

1465-3958

Zdenka Ženko, Matjaž Mulej, Jure Marn,

Intellectual Property and Patents

Abstract Slovenia is about to enter the EU. Is she ready? There is a difference between the legal and the real readiness of Slovenia to enter the EU. This article presents the outlook for innovation in Slovenia. First, the number of patents filed and obtained (national, PCT and European patents) is examined for all 129 publicly listed (32 regularly and 97 over‐the‐counter listed) companies on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. Then the situation is explored further in several companies on the basis of semi‐structured questionnaires. While virtually all respondents agree that the situation is alarming, few are actually willing to put in the necessary effort to increase the gain from innovation and to make innovation more important in the eyes of management and employees alike. The article also gives a short overview of the legal structure for protection of intellectual property in Slovenia. Notes Ljubljana Stock Exchange, http://www.ljse.si. In the area of intellectual property Slovenia is a signatory to the following international treaties: 1. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 2. Universal Copyright Convention 3. Geneva Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms 4. Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers. Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations 5. WIPO Copyright Treaty 6. WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty 7. Agreement on Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 8. Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property 9. Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization 10. 'PCT' Patent Cooperation Treaty 11. Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro‐organisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure 12. International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants 13. Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs 14. Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs 15. Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks 16. Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks 17. Protocol to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks 18. Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol 19. Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification 20. Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks Article 101.: (1) When copyright work is created by an employee in the execution of his duties or following the instructions given by his employer (copyright work created in the course of employment), it shall be deemed that the economic rights and other rights of the author to such work are exclusively assigned to the employer for the period of ten years from the completion of the work, unless otherwise provided by contract. (2) On the expiration of the term mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, the rights mentioned in the foregoing paragraph revert to the employee; however, the employer can claim a new exclusive assignment of these rights, for adequate remuneration. Article 102.: Provisions of the preceding Article notwithstanding: 1. an employee retains the exclusive right to use a work, created in the course of employment, as part of his collected works; 2. it shall be deemed that economic rights and other rights of the author to a database and to a collective work are assigned exclusively and without limitations to the employer, unless otherwise provided by contract. To the best of the authors' knowledge no successful mediation was concluded before the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office to date; binding arbitration would be better in the authors' view. This research was not part of the questionnaire but was carried out independently using on‐line databases of particular patent and trademark offices. Searched online at http://www2.uil‐sipo.si. I.e. trademarks registered at the trademark office of the country of incorporation, in our case Slovenia, with trademark database at http://www2.uil‐sipo.si as opposed to regional or international registrations such as CTM (European Union) or Madrid Agreement/Protocol (World Intellectual Property Organization) registrations. http://ep.espacenet.com. For the purposes of this article European Patent Office and World Intellectual Property Organization (Patent Cooperation Treaty) patents and patent applications were covered with this search. World Intellectual Property Organization (Madrid Agreement/ Protocol) applications were covered at http://www.wipo.org, also CTM (European Union) trademarks and trademark applications; see http://oami.eu.int/en/index.htm. It is a position of the European Patent Office that business method patents cannot be patented under the European Patent Convention. Not only manufacturers were involved in the study. The basic process for banks differs greatly from the basic process for cultural institutions. In both cases, however, they form a common denominator for this study. In the case of parts of the organisation, or one co‐worker supplying another with their products. According to negotiations with the EU (on structural funds) Slovenia has a single region. On the other hand, it is the perception of the Slovenian population that roughly 11 regions exist, taking their roots from the administrative divisions in the Austro–Hungarian Empire (before 1918 but for centuries). An example of industry‐sponsored legal enforcement of intellectual property is Business Software Alliance (BSA) policing of use of most popular commercial software. The BSA has offices in Slovenia and is actively involved in prosecution of illegal copying of software licensed by its members. There were no pharmaceutical companies in the survey—non‐generic (original) drug makers depend heavily on new patented drugs in the production pipeline for marketing them to other countries. ISO standards are for most respondents synonymous with ISO 900x (quality control) and ISO 14000 standards. From an industrial portfolio management point of view the most desirable situation is to obtain a patent a standard‐setting body has adopted as a standard. From a competition and hence state point of view, this situation must be avoided. Hence some countries require that members of standard‐setting committees disclose their pending patents. For example, IP Law and Business Journal, 3,3, 2003, reports a recent US Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit decision clarifying that a participant in a standard‐setting body is required to disclose only pending patents and applications that 'reasonably might be necessary to practise the standard'. This shows the difference between patenting and innovating: innovation is possible without patenting or as a next step of patenting. See Notice from the President of the European Patent Office dated 26 November 2001 concerning limitation of the EPO's competence as a PCT authority, http://www.european‐patent‐office.org/epo/president/e/2001‐12‐11‐e.htm. Often supervisors see suggestions by employees they supervise as dangerous or threatening, and some tend to suppress these activities. Sometimes the corporate climate supports such behaviour by middle management, believing that inventors expect too high rewards and, if these are not received, disappointment leads to decreased performance not only of inventors but also of their peers. Monetary rewards are not of utmost importance: standing among peers is as important if not more so. The value of engineering is decreasing: technical faculties at universities have a hard time finding capable students while economics and law departments are overcrowded. Innovation Management is offered mostly as an elective course at a few undergraduate schools. Additional informationNotes on contributorsZdenka Ženko Zdenka Ženko, Assistant Professor of System Theory and Innovation Management, University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Razlagova 14, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia. Matjaž Mulej, Emeritus Professor of System Theory and Innovation Management, University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Razlagova 14, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia. Jure Marn, Associate Professor of Process Engineering, University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Smetanova ul. 17, PP 224, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.