ASEAN IP INFORMATION COLLECTION: FUTURE PHASES

This outlines the next stages in the development of the ASEAN IP Information Collection.  The first phase (Phase A) should be completed in the first half of 2005 when there will be an operating website making available on the Internet a substantially full range of the main ASEAN intellectual property laws and their directives and regulations for access and search by concept and key words.  This, in itself, will be a very substantial contribution to scholarship on the subject in respect of this region.  However, its true potential as a catalyst for research and policy thinking will be realized with further development in three areas:

1.     Refinements

2.     Supplementary content

3.     Model Laws Project

Refinements  

There are several refinements that will have to be implemented after launch of the website:-

1. The database of laws and the supporting technical infrastructure (e.g. the search engine) will no doubt require tinkering for improvements. Besides removing bugs, there will be the need for more refined metatagging of the documents.
2. Assessing the webinterface for ease of use and redesigning to incorporate more user friendly features.

Requirements

It will be necessary to have funding for: (a) technical support to undertake maintenance and refinements; (b) legal student assistants to identify and sort parts of laws for appropriate metatagging; and (c) technical student assistants (from the polytechnics) to undertake metagging and web redesign.

Supplementary Content  

The ultimate value of the web collection depends on the amount of use researchers make of it.  One way to stimulate this is to add content that may be placed as links on the sidebar facility that is part of the design in Phase A. These include the following:

1. Translations or original language versions: this requires the hiring of capable translators and will have to be undertaken ad hoc or a law by law basis as interested legally trained translators are found for the job – probably amongst academics in the country concerned.
2. Cross-reference links to relevant subsidiary regulations or official commentaries (e.g. bills explanations) or guidelines.
3. It will be helpful to introduce a country concordance and comparative table to support quick search and regional analysis.
4. Uploading international IP conventions and linking the relevant provisions to the pertinent parts of the countries’ laws.

Requirements

Funding to pay for: (a) translations (very expensive – in the order of $5K – 10 K per statute); (b) a legal scholar to undertake (2) – (4).  The technical student assistant hired under ‘Refinements’ may provide the support for design, uploading and implementing the cross references and tables. It will also be necessary to (c) build up a collection of primary and secondary hardcopy materials to support the analysis and as potential material for digitization and uploading.

Model Laws Project

The foregoing two segments describe what may be Phase B, to be undertaken in 2005.  They can build up to Phase C which is the creation of model statutes that are compliant with the requirements of international conventions and yet reflective of ASEAN and Asian developmental needs: i.e ones that use the full latitude allowed by international laws like TRIPS to provide for exceptions and defences and which appropriately tighten up the criteria for qualifying for protection.  Already, in Phase B, parts of this can be implemented by inviting scholars worldwide to submit alternative versions of model provisions for various parts of the laws; and these may be placed as sidebar links to the existing documents as part of the Supplementary Content.  However, Phase C comes into its own most fully when these various bits of provisions can be put together as

1. whole model statutes like legal precedents,
2. with alternative versions, and
3. commentaries. 

The purpose of this is the possible use of these by lesser developed countries for adoption or reform of their laws.

The implementation of this will probably require:

1. the building of a resource unit of secondary materials
2. a conference series for bringing together scholarship around each model law
3. a project director – to be offered a post-doctoral fellowship to undertake the above tasks.

General Requirements

Phase C (the Model Laws) project is the most ambitious and may be postponed if funds do not allow.  Even if it is only Phase B that is undertaken, it will be necessary in addition to the requirements already mentioned above to hire a project administrator and at least one postgraduate student assistant to carry out the work. If Phase C is contemplated, the post-doctoral fellow can double up as the project administrator.  Phase B alone may require up to $250K over two years; Phase B and C together will probably require at least $400K over three years.

Prepared by: Steven Ang