Yesterday pro-IP initiative Ideas Matter was officially launched at Microsoft’s Brussels office. Started by a group of corporations including Microsoft and Philips, as well as a number of SMEs and trade associations, Ideas Matter is aimed at countering the growth of IP scepticism in Europe and further afield by presenting real-life stories of how IP has brought success to individual inventors and small businesses. “Negative fringe stories about multi-billion dollar patent wars and anti-counterfeiting treaties are tainting the image of IP,” said Ron Zink, Chief Operating Officer for EU Affairs at Microsoft. “We want to draw attention to and celebrate the 99.9% of good stuff that IP does.” Ruud Peters, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Philips, agreed that an inaccurate portrayal of IP in the mainstream media was a major problem. “The IP system isn't perfect,” he admitted. “But the advantages of IP get lost in discussions about whether the system works or not. The general view of IP at the moment just doesn't correlate with the truth about the typical uses of IP.”

Peters is a longstanding champion of forward-thinking IP strategy and has spent a lot of time trying to teach others in business about the value-creation potential of IP. He thinks that if the same message is put across to the public in understandable terms, then the trend toward IP scepticism can be reversed. “Innovators need IP to attract capital and develop their ideas,” he said. “And it is not just there to protect innovations. It is an enabler of collaboration, and allows us to make our technology available for joint projects. That is why businesses, big and small, need IP if they are to be successful and benefit society.”

Although a number of groups are involved in Ideas Matter, it's hard to ignore that Microsoft and Philips are the most visible backers. The image of big business profiting from aggressively asserting its IP while stealing ideas from inventors unable to put up a fight is a fundamental tenet of the anti-IP argument. I put it to Zink that there may be a danger that this initiative, founded as a retort to that argument, could end up looking like a front serving purely corporate interests. “We want Ideas Matter to be as broad-based as possible,” he said. “With the individual success stories we hope to tell and the vision we have, I think people will get over the fact that Microsoft and Philips helped to start it and they will recognise the macroeconomic benefits of IP.”

But to further realise that vision, Ideas Matter will need to garner more support from SMEs, startups and the general public – and that is not going to be easy in a continent which has seen widespread protests against IP protection treaties and electoral success for avowedly anti-IP politicians. “To attract more members, we need to prove that it is a worthwhile initiative,” said Zink. “The first step in that process was today - hopefully this will begin to generate more interest and funding.”

During his speech at the launch event, OHIM President António Campinos referred to the USPTO's recent report linking IP to economic success. He suggested that it was high time that the Europeans did something similar. But what remains unclear is just who, if anyone, is going to provide such a study. “In general, there is still too little investigation into the benefits of IP to society at large,” Peters told me. “You need solid facts and figures alongside the case studies that Ideas Matter has presented today. You need the right metrics to do it, and I think that the European Commission and the European Patent Office are probably best placed to do that.”

However, when I asked EPO President Benoît Battistelli about his views on such an initiative last week, he appeared less than enthusiastic, though USPTO Director David Kappos was happy to offer assistance if needed. Given what Campinos and Battistelli have said, maybe OHIM rather than the EPO is best placed to do the heavy lifting on this. “The US study is a great model - it would be a good start for whoever takes on the task in Europe,” said Zink. “Ideas Matter is a global initiative, but we decided to launch it here in Europe because there is a better awareness and appreciation of the economic importance of IP in the USA.”

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IP politics, Brands, Copyright, Patents