A two-day patent examination workshop took place recently at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Startup Centre.
The event was hosted by the UBD’s Tech Transfer Office and the Brunei Darussalam Intellectual Property Office (BruIPO), in collaboration with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on June 24-25.
The event gathered officials from BruIPO, academics and graduate students from UBD, Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB), Politeknik Brunei and legal practitioners from both BruIPO and private law firms.
The workshop aimed to enhance innovation support through in-depth training.
Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Innovation and Enterprise at UBD Professor Dr Mohammad Ayub Sadiq @ Lin Naing highlighted that the training enhanced the Sultanate’s innovation ecosystem and raising awareness of patent opportunities in China.
The professor emphasised the importance of developing skills for high-quality patent documents and improving overall innovation support. He anticipated these efforts would positively impact Brunei’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Meanwhile, Head of BruIPO at the Attorney General’s Chambers Norazizah binti Haji Mohd Ja’afar underscored the importance of supporting and protecting intellectual property in Brunei.
She pointed to recent successes like the UTB Project Showcase at the Brunei Mid-Year Conference and Exhibition (MYCE) 2024 and Teachmeguru’s achievements in events as evidence of Brunei Darussalam’s growing innovation culture. These examples showcase the immense potential and creativity within the nation.
The workshop, led by CNIPA experts, primarily focuses on capacity building in patent examination, training participants to produce high-quality patent documents. This is crucial for technology development and commercialisation within any innovation and enterprise ecosystem.
In addition to patent examination techniques, the workshop highlights the significance of conducting effective prior art searches. This critical step involves thoroughly searching existing patents and publications to determine whether an invention is novel and non-obvious, which are key requirements for obtaining a patent. – Fadley Faisal
