21 - 27 June 2001
Issue No.539
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 June 2001 Issue No.539 |
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Flying machines and electric toothbrushes
How far can Egyptian creativity travel on the global highway of invention? Al-Ahram Weeklyconsiders the prospects
Ever watch Michael J Fox take a ride on his floating skate-board or put on his self-strapping sneakers in Back to the Future II? Well, if these gadgets actually did exist, they would be patented. The patenting process is the difference between fantasy and invention. While the former is the product of daydreaming, the latter is a novel concept that could be turned into a tangible product -- and possibly with a large profit.
Inventions are patented to prevent others from making, using and selling the invention. Like every other country, Egypt has a patent office, located on the first floor of the Academy for Scientific Research and Technology on Kasr Al-Aini Street. One might expect a futuristic design and state-of- the-art office equipment, but there is nothing striking about the place. A long corridor leads to humdrum government offices and aluminium window and door frames. Into every available space are crammed desks, some with computers on them. To patent an idea here, it must be original and industrially applicable. The current patent law states that an idea must not have been written about for the last 50 years, whereas the draft law requires an idea to be absolutely original, i.e. that it has never been written about at all.
But, needless to say, there is no way to be absolutely sure that an idea is ingenious until one attempts to patent it -- and the trip to the patent office is only the beginning. Individuals pay approximately LE40 to apply for a patent while companies pay around LE115. The registration process requires a detailed, accurate description of how the item is made and used.
But registering for a patent does not automatically lead to the granting of one. Slightly over 1,500 patent applications are filed every year, but only 40 per cent are eventually granted a patent. The patent office first checks its data bank to ensure that the idea is not patented elsewhere in the world and that it complies with all criteria -- a procedure that takes roughly four years. That may seem like a long time, but Jaleen Moroney, acting head of Supporting Intellectual Property Rights in Egypt (SIPRE), said, "It is nothing compared to the average of eight years that was needed before." It is still rather lengthy, however, when compared to the two-and-a-half-year average in the United States, for example. SIPRE is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project designed to promote IPR protection in Egypt. It has been closely involved in improving the patent office's performance.
Fawzy El-Rifai, vice-president of the Academy for Scientific Research and Technology, explains that a shake-up of the patent office began three years ago as part of a comprehensive programme carried out by the academy and SIPRE. The joint effort aimed to reorganise and increase the patent office's efficiency through training, providing new equipment and linking it to the Internet. Before, the patent office was drab and overcrowded with people and files. A designer was commissioned to redesign the available space to improve working conditions and keep the public from seeing confidential data.
Although patent registration procedures have been facilitated, this has not led to an increase in the number of Egyptian applicants. Egyptian nationals apply for fewer than 10 per cent of the total number of patents granted in Egypt, laments El-Rifai. Foreign companies which want to patent their products or processes in Egypt -- to ensure that it receives local protection -- must do so through a patent agent, and these make up the vast majority of patent requests. El-Rifai attributes this to the extensive research and development departments which international companies set up within their institutions and suggests that Egyptian industrialists should do the same.
The separation between research and industry in Egypt is, in fact, a cause of the limited number of Egyptian patents. Patent agent Hoda Serageddin explains that the existing research institutes are not oriented towards market demand. "We need to create institutes of applied technology, not merely research," she says.
Mohamed Youssry El-Nahas, secretary-general of the Egyptian Association for Design and Technology, concurs. "Egyptian industrialists are used to importing technologies and do not trust local ideas. That is something that needs to change if we are to achieve anything," he opines. His association attempts to link industrialists and researchers. "We try to keep them informed of available research and encourage them to come to us with any problem in need of a solution," he explains.
Meanwhile, the Invention Development Agency helps inventors produce their first working model and then market the invention. There is talk of an invention showroom, and an agreement was recently signed with the Social Fund for Development, which will provide funding for inventors to set up their first models.
Sameh El-Naggar invented an apparatus enabling a car's gearbox to operate semi- automatically. He applied for a patent but in the meantime does not know what to do with his creation. "I cannot sell it to local car manufacturers, because they all operate assembly lines for foreign [manufacturers] and they do not make their own additions." As for applying for a patent abroad, he does not know how to go about it and "it would be too expensive" in any case. With a friend, he decided to start a company to manufacture patented inventions and market them at exhibitions. For example, he found a patent for an electric toothbrush designed to clean plaque which could save its user a visit to the dentist.
However, El-Naggar is thinking about giving up his project because he found it unfeasible. When he went to the patent office to choose a number of small inventions, he found that patents were classified by date rather than by type. This meant that he had to buy every catalogue and go through thousands of pages to find what he wanted.
Mohamed Abdel-Sami El-Hamalawi, head of the Egyptian Inventors Association, points to patenting fees as another obstacle to Egyptian invention. He believes that the cost of patenting one's invention and the annual fees for patent protection, which add up to around LE1,000, are too high for low-income individuals, who are generally the source of inventions worldwide.
The draft law is expected to increase these fees. It states that the cost of a patent should be no higher than LE1,000 and the annual fee around LE500. This is justified, says El-Rifai. "The fees required for a patent now date back to 1949." Moreover, since Egyptian inventors are a minority, good use of the low fees is not being made, according to El- Rifai. On the other hand, the law may provide a mechanism to assist Egyptians filing for patents.
But the new law modifies more than fees. It also extends the protection period from 15 to 20 years. The penalties for violating a patent involve a jail sentence of no less than three months and a fine ranging from LE10,000 to LE100,000. The draft law also provides protection in new areas such as topographic design -- the layout of integrated circuits -- and to utility models, which are improvements or slight modifications to an already existing patent. This is an area where Egyptians might excel, says Hoda Serageddin. "It is to our advantage, because Egyptians are good at improving on existing things."
SIPRE's Jaleen Moroney also thinks that patents for utility models will favour the small inventor. "The criteria to receive a patent for a utility model is not as rigorous as for an invention. It only requires an individual to make an addition or improvement on already existing machinery, perhaps something that adapts it to the local environment." Many of the patent applications rejected before could be accepted within utility models, she says.
The limited number of Egyptian inventions is also a reflection of Egypt's educational system, which Serageddin describes as "not conducive to creativity." Most of the patents she files are related to pharmaceuticals and chemicals. "This is because we have a pharmaceuticals industry from which international companies want to protect their products," she explains. Serageddin says that the number of foreign patents is an important economic indicator. According to her, the number of patent requests in Egypt is "very poor," which "shows that, economically, there is very limited interest in the Egyptian market."
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