An event gradually becomes a tradition when it occurs steadily. That is truely the case for LES Russia and LES Germany joint international IP seminars that usually take place in Moscow each year. The recent seminar was held on November 23, 2005 and was devoted to company strategies for IP management and technology licensing.

The seminar differed from previous meetings, in that this was the first at which LES Russia and LES Germany managed to secure a team of such distinguished speakers. Can you imagine the first IP people from Nokia, Daimler Chrysler and Canon gathered together to discuss their IP company strategies in Moscow? I cannot, but it really did occur.

In the official opening of the seminar, Dr. Natalia Karpova, President of LES Russia, and Dr. Heinz Goddar, Past President of LES Germany and LESI, noted their great interest for the seminar in Russia and expressed their hopes for a successful event.

Dr. Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, IPR of Nokia Corporation, Finland, began with the slogan, "IP is the next software." This statement underlines the great role of IP in becoming more and more impor tant in an increasingly competitive and. globalized world. Another of Dr. Rahnasto's statements that actually can no longer be argued is that intangible assets will determine the success of enterprises and nations. And, further emotional statements and practically Hamlet's "to share or not to share in tangible assets - is the future business challenge," tuned the audience into Shakespeare's way of thinking. However, we can guess that "to share and to gain" may somehow prevail in Nokia's strategy.

Final remarks of Dr. Rahnasto exposed three major market experiences of Nokia: interoperability, domi nant design of mobile phone user interface, and future trends con sisting of taking into account the "common good" of the industry. The successful story of Nokia showed perfect response to the busi ness challenge identi fied before.

In the opening of his speech, Dr. Nobuyoshi Tanaka, IP Managing Director, Canon Inc., Japan, gave a very impressive introduction of Canon, which included data of Canon's input into the glob al economy. What was the most amazing, is the fact that a ratio of R&D expenses to net sales comprises about 8% and will soar to 10% in the future.

All through the presentation, Dr. Tanaka pre sented that the main idea of Canon IP policy is "doing business with its original technologies." Maybe it is that idea that put Canon in line with the greatest global market-players. The attendants were particularly impressed by the directly pro portional functional dependence between con solidated sales and number of patents.

A substantial part of Dr. Tanaka's presentation was focused on IP environmental changes consist ing in the rise of Asian powers, interconnectivity leading to alliance standardization, turning the company's policy to open innovation, and alliance with universities and other companies.

It was very instrumental to get some news of invention, design and global brand strategies of Canon. The conclusion that Dr. Tanaka presented was that clear IP strategy linked with corporate management and their prompt performance is nowadays vitally essential for survival.

The speech of Dr. Ingo Bruckner, Senior Patent Counsel, Daimler Chrysler AG, Germany, was divided into several parts, each of which was of great interest to the participants. The first part was devoted to IP strategies of Daimler Chrysler. It was emphasized that acquisition and enforce ment of IP is an integral part of product strategies and that any acquired IP should have maximum legal coverage. It was also noted that any R&D should be absolutely independent from third party IPR.

Another important point made by Dr. Bruckner, was that before choosing a proper IP strategy, a careful examination should be made to compare market success of early publication of the inven tion, as well as to keep it a trade secret or patent it for exclusivity. Protection against future and prior third party rights should also be considered.

The IP portfolio management segment of Dr. Bruckner's presentation showed a very harmoni ous and strict Daimler Chrysler IP management system. He spoke of differential technology keys used for portfolio evaluation and covered all as pects of IP portfolio management (strategic, eco nomical, etc). Specific explanations were given in respect to Daimler Chrysler IP project work that to a great extent depends on the proper definition of core technologies, the starting point of the project itself, and an assessment of company and third party IP position.

In determining the licensing strategies of Daim ler Chrysler, exclusivity and freedom to operate play leading roles. And finally, while choosing world wide patent protection, a decision usually depends on the strategical importance of the invention, high potential of its protection, high probability of issuance, and probability for future use.

The title of the presentation by Dr. Michael Gorin, President, Algodine, Russia, "From IP Based Start-Up Company to Global Business - a Twisted and Successful Way," speaks for itself. Several types of start-up companies in Russia were described. Moreover, very detailed explanations of positive and negative factors in creating such ventures in Russia were given.

We may say that Dr. Gorin presented a success ful story of setting up and developing Algodine, in spite of the plurality of pitfalls still existing in Russia for these kinds of businesses. In his filial conclu sion, the statement that Russia, nevertheless, is a very proper place for start-up companies sounded very promising.

The seminar's panel discussion was of great inter est to the attendees. And, we cannot help mention ing a very professional and skilled moderating of the seminar conducted by Dr. Heinz Goddar, who without doubt may be considered an "honorary" member of LES Russia.

On behalf of all members of LES Russia, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the speakers, Dr. Heinz Goddar (LES Germany) and Dr. Kari Sipila (LES Scandinavia) for their inestimable assistance in conducting the seminar.