The occasional misspelling or typo inevitably makes it into print, and it is part of the editor's job to prevent them. On the other hand, misspellings made by business associates in email can be a welcome source of humor.
Years ago at a previous job, I received an email from a business in Japan that had an attachment and a note saying, "Please reefer it." An academic colleague at the time, who had a great sense of humor and nefarious hobbies, printed that one and hung it on his wall.
A recent email enquiry I received from a Chinese source said, "Your response is quietly appreciated."
Everyone makes mistakes and typos, even in their native language. An email from a U.K.-based marketing firm recently began, "Please excuse us if this second email causes you any incontinence ..."
Mistakes in email are one thing, but there is no room for mistakes when seeking intellectual property (IP) protection in a foreign country. When you don't speak the language or know the laws, mistakes can mean either the success or theft of your proprietary secrets abroad. If you are a small U.S. company, where do you start? How does one go about protecting intellectual property in a foreign country, much less many countries at once?
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), you can seek protection in individual countries by applying directly to national IP offices. Each application requires translation into a prescribed national language. A national application fee is required for each country, and in the case of patents, you may require the services of an IP agent or patent attorney to make sure the application meets national requirements.
Unless your invention or technology has already proven its commercial viability, the national process can be prohibitively cumbersome and expensive, especially if protection is sought in many countries. To promote efficient protection of IP around the world, the United Nations set up WIPO in 1967 as a specialized agency that offers a simpler and generally less expensive alternative.
Rather than filing multiple national applications in many languages, the WIPO-administered system enables applicants to file one form in one language, and to pay a single application fee. Patent application forms and more details can be found at www.wipo.org.
The current Connector Specifier QuickVote survey on our website asks, "If your connector business has facilities in or is outsourcing in China, do you think your company has adequately protected itself against theft of intellectual property there?" Please take a moment to visit our website and cast your vote: yes, no, or don't know. We are also interested to hear about your successful or not-so-successful endeavors in intellectual property protection at home and abroad. We quietly appreciate your input (and we promise not to point out any typos).
Happy Thanksgiving,
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Valerie Coffey, Editor-in-Chief
valeriec@pennwell.com
