About the Index
Based on an innovative analysis of surveys of senior industry figures globally and an array of published empirical data, the index provides an assessment of the best and worst jurisdictions to obtain, exploit, enforce and attack particular types of IP. Where once anecdotes, conjecture and even some prejudice may have informed our view of a particular jurisdiction, we are now able to rely on statistical analysis.
The Global Intellectual Property Index (GIPI) provides a comprehensive assessment of how the intellectual property (IP) regimes of 24 important jurisdictions compare with each other. Where applicable, each right is assessed as regards obtaining, exploiting, enforcing and attacking it.
The GIPI was developed by Taylor Wessing in May 2008 in association with the Z/Yen Group (compilers, in cooperation with the City of London Corporation, of the respected annual Global Financial Centres Index). The results are the statistical output from a worldwide survey of IP owners and users giving over 14,000 assessments, as weighted bearing in mind data from 50 objective sources (or ‘instrumental factors’).
- For detail about survey respondent numbers, see Appendix C.
- The instrumental factors include published data by jurisdiction about the number of patent or trade mark filings and grants, the value of royalty fee payments, R&D expenditure and the origin of counterfeits as seized by customs. For more details, see Appendix A
An update to the first report (GIPI 1) was issued in May 2009 (GIPI 2). This added to the research and analysis two further jurisdictions (Ireland and Turkey) to the initial 22 and two further IP rights (designs and domain names) to those of trade marks, patents and copyright.
This third report (GIPI 3) covers the same 24 jurisdictions. An index on personal data protection regimes replaces the one on domain names. This is because the former is very much a hot topic at present and because there has been little material change likely to have affected domain name ratings and rankings.
At time of launching GIPI 3, Sony is having to deal with the alleged theft of the personal data of 100 million Playstation Network users. Misplaced laptops and memory sticks, web monitoring cookies and geographic tracing of iPhones are also prominent issues. Once (or if) the major changes proposed by ICANN are implemented regarding new gTLDs, there may have been sufficient change to revive the domain name section in the next GIPI.
Thank you to those of you who participated in the survey. We hope you find the latest results and our analysis interesting and that they stimulate and inform debates about the IP laws and their effects in the countries considered.
The Global IP Index will be updated regularly to identify changes in people's perceptions and in other measures of competitiveness. We would be grateful for your opinions on our results and analysis, whether directly or done by completing the GIPI survey. Please be assured that answers will be kept confidential, and will be used only to compile the Global IP Index. The survey should take no more than ten minutes to complete.
"Sony is having to deal with the alleged theft of the personal data of 100 million Playstation Network users"