Demand for IPR presents opportunities for broker services

The system is suitable for use on slopes, on golf courses or woodland areas. "The inventor brought his patent to our firm for us to look at and we applied for multiple patents for his invention." It has been put into large-scale experimental use in the drainage of agriculture land and wooded areas by municipal and provincial government departments in Shandong province, he said. "The results are encouraging."

Another of the company's clients was a local university, which had developed ACEHearing, a new technology to aid those with partial hearing loss. A telecommunications company and a mobile phone manufacturer helped TransPacific with its developments.

ACEHearing is a standalone piece of hardware that can be used with touchscreen mobile phones, computers and other consumer electronics products to improve the user's hearing capability or reception.

The device assesses the reception of various sounds such as human voices, the ring of the telephone, music or other forms of entertainment, which then amplifies specific frequencies of which the user has trouble hearing. It addressed the individual’s unique hearing problems.

"During promotion of the product, Transpacific advised the innovator to upgrade the patent protection of technology," said Lam. "An independent inventor does not have enough capital to complete all patent protection work required," he said.

Chinese companies have great demand for overseas IP rights, while developed economies in Europe, US and Japan with mature markets, frequently use IP brokers to expand their businesses. Promoting energy savings and creating a low carbon economy is one of the important policy directions of China's 12th Five-Year Plan, Lam said, adding the market is promoting the European Union's Euro 5 emission standards for diesel engines.

A major car manufacturer in the United States expressed the intention to transfer relevant production technology for the EU 5 engine and the continuous variable valve lift technology for energy savings and emissions reductions to mainland China for production.

The US company has hired Transpacific to find a suitable vehicle manufacturer in mainland China, and to purchase relevant patents and carry out the technology transfer. The first stage of the deal has gone well, said Lam. Transpacific took a trip to Anhui province sponsored by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and used the council's network to find a vehicle manufacturer. Negotiations on the venture are now underway.

Hong Kong has been an ideal international trade hub, due to its comprehensive legal system, which offers good intellectual property rights protections, along with its excellent financial services. As such, Hong Kong has the necessary infrastructure to transform into an intellectual property rights trading center." Many countries trust Hong Kong's ability to handle the trade of patents, copyrights and trademarks," Lam said.