Case Study 7- A Bold Step into the Modern Economy & A Remote Solution for a Global Opportunity

ADAMSON UNIVERSITY CE308 INTELECTUAL PROPERTY

Submitted by:

GARCIA, Vladimier PAGLINAWAN, Paul Joseph SUNGA, Khaylle Submitted to:

Prof. Dr. Tomas U. Ganiron Jr.

• is a cooperative for agrarian reform established in 1991, in Lanipga, Bula, a municipality in the province of Camarines Sur. formerly called (until 1991) the People’s Coalition for Unity on Agrarian Reform Integrated Action (PECUARIA) • consisting of 426 producers (in 2012), the cooperative was created following land reforms in the country in the early 1990s. During this period, hundreds of hectares of arable land in Lanipga was made available for the organization’s use by the Philippine government.

• PDCI’s members in the co-operative has diversified their product range to sugar, organic feltilizer and poultry goods

• PDCI diversified its use of assets (including land and products) and forged new partnerships with key organizations. In this way, the cooperative was also able to unite producers, invest in modern R&D facilities and open new credit lines and markets for its members.

• PDCI partnered with the Department of Agrarian Reform of the country and the Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA) and collaborated with the Diocese of Caceres in order to facilitate dialogue between producers in the community. After three year of these important partnerships they won a legal battle than in able them to become sole owners of the land • Having received title to their lands, the cooperative’s farmers divided themselves into five main production units – developed in order to avoid competition over the same products, these clusters specialized in different farming products

• A new period of prosperity began in 1994, however, when the cooperative expanded its engagement with key partners within the community and in industry. PDCI benefited from membership of the Bicol chapter of Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA) – a farmers’ confederation that aims to empower rural communities in the Philippines.

• Working with PAKISAMA and others, PDCI was able to lobby relevant government agencies, win major legal concessions and open credit lines for producers • PDCI was also provided 2 million pesos in financial loans by the Philippine Development assistance Program . PDCI was able to invest in training its farmers and also an investment to a new rice- growing method

• PDCI’s MASIPag Rice Technology (MRT) is a farming method (run over a two year period) which teaches farmers how to identify and cultivate rice varieties that are best suited for their land. Through these method they were able produce new rice varities which they are known for Pecuria Selections • PDCI, moreover, employed 22 fulltime staff and operated a number of production facilities including a rice mill, a fertilizer plant, a solar powered flatbed dryer (for rice grains) and delivery trucks. .

• In order to break into new markets with quality goods and brands, PDCI partnered with UMFI and helped in training the cooperative to adapt in a modern economy like training farmers on modern sales and procurement and improved their competitiveness by implementing key technologies and adding value to products.

• Perhaps the most significant development in this partnership occurred when UMFI became PDCI’s official marketing partner. In this capacity, the branding organization took over the marketing and product development portfolio of the cooperative by helping PDCI identify primary products.

• UMFI and the farmers’ cooperative incorporated internationally recognized quality standards in PDCI’s farms including those established by the World Fair Trade Organization Philippines (WFTO-Phils)

• With national and international labels of quality on its attractively designed rice and sugar products the cooperative has reassured both business clients and end consumers of its products’ high standards.

• PDCI and UMFI had a variety of value-added, branded products including organic white, brown, black, and pink rice; unpolished violet rice; blended rice; premium polished red rice; muscovado sugar; sugar cane syrup; and bio-organic fertilizer.

• 80% of the cooperative’s goods were distributed by UMFI in over 500 supermarkets and large trading centers in Metropolitan Manila, the most populous area in the Philippines. The remainder of PDCI’s products was commercialized via local supermarket chains and in towns surrounding the Bula municipality.

• Also in 2012, the cooperative had entered regional markets including Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China.

• PDCI and UMFI secured its position in the healthy foods market for rice and sugar products in the Philippines by registering trademarks for F&C Farms and Cottages (2009, for sugar and rice products), Healthy Rice (2010, for rice goods), and Fair Trade Quality That Cares & Device (2010, for muscovado sugar and rice products) via the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

• With secure IP assets, UMFI (and its farming partner) has been able to develop and promote organic rice and sugar brands with confidence across the Philippines and into the international market.

• Bringing brand recognition to the farmers of Bula, these trademarks have attracted new business clientele and end consumers while distinguishing the organization’s products from those of competitors.

• PDCI and UMFI secured its position in the healthy foods market for rice and sugar products in the Philippines by registering trademarks for F&C Farms and Cottages (2009, for sugar and rice products), Healthy Rice (2010, for rice goods), and Fair Trade Quality That Cares & Device (2010, for muscovado sugar and rice products) via the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

• With secure IP assets, UMFI (and its farming partner) has been able to develop and promote organic rice and sugar brands with confidence across the Philippines and into the international market.

• Bringing brand recognition to the farmers of Bula, these trademarks have attracted new business clientele and end consumers while distinguishing the organization’s products from those of competitors.

• PDCI was recognized by the country’s Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) via the Outstanding Agrarian Reform Community award. Four years later, PDCI’s Bamboo Manufacturing Project was judged to be the Best Livelihood Project by the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines.

• PDCI’s productivity and market access continued to grow so that by 2006 over 233 supermarket outlets all over the country stocked PDCI’s rice and sugar products and brands. This amounted to 25 million PHP compared to 1.5PHP million in 2001.

• PDCI’s strategic partnerships, hard work and utilization of the IP system, the cooperative’s producers have seen their quality of life and farming capacity improved, their environment sustained, their incomes increased and their prospects of a better future placed on a firm footing.

• Mr. Anantharaman Lakshminarayanan (Lux for short) was a researcher working on security protocols and algorithms for personal content digital rights management (DRM) at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), a research and development (R&D) institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) of the Republic of Singapore (Singapore). • At lunch, he wanted to access his personal files but realized that he had accidentally lost his external storage device. Lux realized that what happened to him can easily happen to anyone, While on his way home, he thought that if he was able to develop protocols for secure data sharing among different people, he should be able to use his experience to develop a device that enables secure data sharing between his personal devices.

• Lux spent the next few months researching different available options for secure data sharing and how they could be used in a new invention.

• With so many different applications requiring passwords – work email, personal email, Internet banking, databases, and so on – he knew that many people would balk at the idea of having to remember yet another password just to access their data.

• Lux's research then turned to online “cloud” data storage, which is networked online storage hosted on computer servers by third parties.

• While his research found this to be a rather popular solution, the third parties providing the storage technically have unauthorized access to a user's sensitive data.

• Lux already had a solution in mind – the incorporation of a remote access software application with a Universal Serial Bus (USB, a communication protocol for computers) device about the size of a portable flash storage drive – but he was not sure how to make it not only secure, but also simple enough for a novice computer user to use.

• Lux saw his USB flash storage device plugged into his computer and realized that he could create a USB device that splits into two, where one half is plugged into the computer and the other half is taken with the user and plugged into another computer. • He quickly explained his idea to Kal, who was intrigued by the concept and its simplicity but was sure something like it was already invented. • After conducting searches of literature, patents and available products, the two realized that there nothing like it had ever been developed.

The first generation prototype of iTwin, formerly called Twin USB (Photo: iTwin)

• Lux and Kal's research paid off when they developed a two-sided USB key that, when unplugged and connected to two computers that have Internet access, can provide secure access to the same files between the two machines.

• The iTwin can be split into two halves, both of which can connect to a computer's USB port. The part of the device that stays plugged into the computer is the “home unit,” and the part that goes with the user is the “portable unit.”

• There is no manual software installation required and plugging either USB end of the paired device into a computer (for example, a user's home computer) will open up a virtual folder.

• Any files that the user wants to access remotely are placed into this folder, into which they are virtually copied. From the user's perspective the files appear to be copied, but in actuality this “copying” is simply telling the device what files are to be shared.

• After this, the user can unplug the portable unit portion of the device while the home unit stays connected to the home computer. The portable unit can then be taken and plugged into any remote computer with an Internet connection.

• Once it is connected, the iTwin gives the user full access to all the files securely shared in the virtual folder back on the home computer. It also will create a virtual folder on the remote computer, and grant access to any files in that folder to a user of the home computer (should there be one).

• Changes can be made directly to any shared file on either computer without the need to first copy the file locally. • An ingenious part of the invention is that both a remote user and a user at the home computer can make changes to any shared file on either computer without the need to copy it or save different versions. • No user created passwords, technical support or complicated setup procedures are necessary, and the only requirement for the two keys on both computers to securely communicate is an Internet connection.

• Lux and Kal knew that they had a breakthrough invention with real marketability in their hands, but without adequate funding it would probably be relegated to the drawing board. In addition, they also wanted to protect their invention from any possible copiers vying to cash in on their hard work.

• The two drew up detailed plans for their invention and presented it to I2R’s IP Review Committee (the Committee), which evaluates inventions for potential IP protection and commercial application.

• The Committee was not convinced of the value of the invention and its commercial potential.

• But the inventors persevered and managed to convince the Senior Vice President of the Science and Engineering Commercialization Division of Exploit that the iTwin indeed had commercial potential.

• In February 2008, A*STAR filed a patent application in Singapore with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and internationally through the Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT) system for its invention. • In January 2011, the patent was granted (Application #2010076842) in Singapore by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.

• With a company established, Lux and Kal knew that protecting their name was vital to developing a strong brand image.

• The original name for their invention was “Twin USB”, but because of trademark concerns surrounding the use of “USB,” the inventors decided upon the “iTwin” name.

• Because the company has only a single product, it decided that having the same name for both company and product would be in its best interest. In October 2010 the newly formed company applied for a trademark with IPOS for “iTwin,” and it was officially registered (#T1013165Z) in January 2011.

• After a mere six months on the market, by April 2011 iTwin was already making waves in the technology world.

• The technology has earned positive reviews in the press, and in March 2011 it won the prestigious Red Dot product design award.

• Recognition in the technology field continued to come in, and later in November 2011 iTwin won the Popular Science Magazine Award followed by earning a spot in Accounting Today’s Top New Products of 2012.

• These achievements recognize iTwin’s quality and simple yet trend setting design, and puts the company and its innovative product on the path to commercial success.