5.DBA1734 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

DBA1734 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
ASSIGNMENT I 10 marks

1. Identify the types of Technology Transfer agreements by the Indian companies.List out the prospects and challenges involved in Technology Transfer agreements.

Technology transfer is the term used to describe the processes by which technological knowledge moves within or between organizations. International technology transfer refers to the way in which this occurs between countries.

Government of India’s Technology Transfer policy:
For promoting technological capability and competitiveness of the Indian industry,
acquisition of foreign technology is encouraged through foreign technology collaboration
agreements. Induction of knowledge through such collaborations has permitted either
through automatic route or with prior Government approval.
Scope of Technology Collaboration:
The terms of payment under foreign technology collaboration, which are eligible for
approval through the automatic route and by the Government approval route, includes
technical know how fees, payment for design and drawing, payment for engineering
service and royalty.

Automatic Route: Payment for foreign technology coloration by Indian companies are
allowed under the automatic route subject to the following limits:
• The lump sum payments not exceeding US$2 million
• Royalty payable being limited to 5 per cent for domestic sales and 8 per cent for
exports, without any restriction on the duration of the royalty payments.
Authorized dealers appointed by the Reserve bank of India (RBI) allow
remittances for royalty payment of lump-sum fee and remittance for use of
Trademark/Franchise in India within the limits prescribed under the automatic
route. RBI’s prior approval is required for remittance towards purchase of trade
mark/franchise.
Government Approval – Project Approval Board (PAB): Royalty payment in the
following cases requires prior Government approval (through PAB when only technical
collaboration is proposed and FIPB where both financial & technical collaboration are
proposed):
a) Sectors/activities which are not on the automatic route for FDI, or
b) Proposals not meeting any of the parameters for automatic approval
Proposals for foreign technology transfer/collaboration not covered under the automatic
route shall considered by the PAB in the department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Application in such cases has submitted in Form FC-IL to the secretary for industrial
Assistance.


Important Issues Associated with the Transfer of Technology
“The availability of a pool of scientific and technical know-how, tested, tried and
perfected in the advanced countries”, has seen as a distinct advantage that LDCs of today
enjoy over those of the past. However, there is now a growing view that the transfer of
technology from the developed to the developing countries does not sufficiently conform
to the real needs and interests of the latter.Cost, appropriateness, dependence and obsolescence are the four important issues associated with the transfer of technology.
In many cases, the developing countries obtain foreign technology at unreasonably high
prices. In a number of cases of foreign direct investment associated with technology
transfer, the net outflow of capital by way of dividends, interest, royalties and technical
fees are much higher than the corresponding inflow.
The appropriateness of the foreign technology to the physical, economic and social
conditions of the developing countries is an important aspect considered in technology
transfer. There is a large no. of cases where the foreign technology transferred has been
irrelevant or inappropriate to the recipient country’s social-economic priorities and
conditions.
Further, heavy reliance on foreign technology may lead to technological dependence.
The import of modern sophisticated technology has tended to displace the traditional
indigenous technology that has improved under a different set of policies. The steady
stream of new products and processes introduced by multinationals into developing
countries has been unfavorable to the promotion of domestic technological capacities and
has discouraged local scientists and technicians from devoting themselves to practical
development problems. It creates an attitude of subservient dependence, which may
inhibit the capacity to do even relatively minor adaptive research or to adopt processes,
which can develop locally.
It has identified that there is a tendency to transfer outdated technology to the developing
countries. Thus, they would not enjoy the advantages of the latest technology and would
still technologically lag behind. It is unfortunate that the owners of modern technology
view the developing countries as a means to salvage technology that is obsolescent in the
advanced countries, even when they possess technology that is more advanced.

V. Disputes in Technology Transfers
However, initial care has taken in choosing the partner/company; there are various
reasons for raising the disputes while implementing the collaboration agreements.
Ministry of Science and Industrial research, Govt. of India conducted a study on
“Disputes in Technology Transfer Agreements – case studies” and given suggestions to
companies while entering technology transfer agreements (Executive summery of the
study is in Appendix-1)
The following are some of areas where the general disputes will arise.
• Disputes arise because of differentiation in interpretation of different clauses
of the agreement.
• At least one party must unable to operate the some part of the agreement due
to any reason.
• Deliberately come out of the agreement by one party ( some times it is
happen when the license company is taken over by another company, those
are not interested and or their philosophy is different – otherwise it is rarely
happen)
• Disputes relating payment of royalty and fees
• Delay in completion of the projects
• Passing of unapproved technology
• Technology up gradation and incomplete data and drawings
• Licensor is competing with licensee with the latest models in India
• After sales service and backup
• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues like of trade mark
• Quality and cost of production,
• Delay and supply of inferior raw materials and components



2. Critically examine the role of International Brokers in Technology partnering.

International brokers operate at the very centre of the international trade. They gather, organize, and manage the commercial and trade data required to submit goods for release to national Customs administrations on behalf of their clients. As well, they can handle the payment of appropriate duties and taxes on these goods. In many countries, International brokers are licensed by their governments to perform the particular tasks of submitting Customs declarations and paying duties and taxes on behalf of importers and exporters.

International brokers possess wide-ranging skills and deep knowledge about trade processes and procedures, including classification, valuation, rules of origin, admissibility requirements, duty rates, taxes and supply chain security.

• training, vetting and monitoring independent community brokers;
• maintaining a list of approved, independent community brokers from which consumers could
choose (this body could also assist consumers to know what to expect from these
independent brokers);
• maintaining a database of information on such things as relevant laws and public policies,
cost and reputation of local services, etc. – such a database could, in fact, help to reduce the
need for direct brokerage involvement;
• providing training to service agency training;
• addressing local community development needs, including assisting consumers to establish
needed services and supports;
• collecting data about the nature and operation of community and generic services and
feeding this information to appropriate bodies.

International brokers’ Role in International Trade Relationships
1. International brokers and their Clients
(a) The services offered by International brokers to their clients are usually based in law (e.g. the
power of attorney), and on nationally recognized business practice and conventions.
(b) International brokers perform their work with honesty, dedication, diligence, and
impartiality.
2. International brokers and their National Customs Administrations
(a) International brokers generally are licensed to perform their duties by their governments. They
are thus uniquely placed to assist Customs administrations by working with government to
provide essential services to both clients and Customs.
(b) International brokers take every opportunity to help their Customs administrations
achieve improvements in service provision to traders. Such improvements include
efficiencies in application of regulations, development of programs that capitalize on
technological advances, and adherence to new trade security standards.
(c) Customs administrations conduct their relations with International brokers fairly and
without discrimination, offering all customs brokerage firms equal opportunity to serve their
mutual clients.
3. International brokers and Professional Education
(a) International brokers strive to enhance their knowledge and skills on a continuous
basis.
(b) Professional education can take place both formally (by means of activities undertaken in
schools, colleges, web-based courses, seminars offered by national International brokers
associations etc.) and informally (on-the-job training; mentoring; in-house training). Both styles
of training should be encouraged and recognized.
4. International brokers and Trade Security and Facilitation
(a) International brokers are at the centre of the international trade fulcrum, and thus have an
intrinsic interest in ensuring their clients’ interests are advanced by full participation in national
and international trade security and facilitation programs, such as those advanced by the World
Customs Organization.

A skilled role

In our view, the broker requires a high level of skills in a variety of areas. These primarily include:
• appropriate values;
• possession of a clear vision of the capacity of people with developmental disabilities to live
fulfilling lives as citizens;
• highly developed interpersonal communication skills;
• an understanding of the concept of the ‘circle of support’ and its relevance, as well as the
ability to recognize the kinds of people who might appropriately be involved in the circle;
• a strong understanding of the principles, structure, and functions of an IF system;
• a solid understanding of the principles and necessary logic of the individual planning
process;
• an ability to work systematically in collecting information about specific resources;
• knowledge of the kinds of organization which may be relevant;
• an ability to act in a group in ways which are facilitative;
• an ability to document the planning process and its outcomes in ways which are precise yet
also support vitality and imagination;
• budget negotiation, service contracting, monitoring, problem-resolution and mediation skills;
• awareness of the role of ‘supporter’ and ability to work within this role.

A distinct role offers a special opportunity
Service brokerage is a complex and demanding role, and requires the broker to accept the idea that professional ‘power’ can only result from effectively empowering and enhancing the status of others. If brokerage is to be effective it must be recognized as distinct from both case management and advocacy; and it must be correctly positioned within Individualized Funding systems as a role that is accorded legitimacy by the other actors in the system. On the other hand, we do understand the look of wistful longing that we sometimes notice on the faces of case managers when we explain the brokerage role. They have realized, correctly, that to be a service broker is an opportunity to work in the community, free from conflicts of interest and the burden
of gate-keeping, and with the single concern to enable people to find all the richness of living which comes with true citizenship.














ASSIGNMENT II 10 marks
1. Explain the IPR issues in Technology partnering.

The changing role of IPR
The main issue is whether collaborative research will be impeded or aided by IPR (Intellectual
Property Rights) system, and in particular how this system (or rather unintegrated IPR systems) will affect Internet collaborations. The importance of IPR issues have rapidly grown since the advent of the pro-patent era in the USA in the early to mid-1980s. The emergence of this era was perhaps more a consequence than a cause of the technology-driven transition to a new type of economy with labels such as 'knowledge based economy', 'intellectual capitalism' and the like. The basic economic rationales and legal framework of the IPR systems around the world have not changed for centuries however. During the 20th century the IPR field was dominated by lawyers; economists paid very little attention to it and so did industrial managers and policy makers in general, let alone the public at large. The rapid movement of IPR from backstage to the forefront of attention and strategic importance has therefore created a huge need for education as well as research on IPR issues, complex as they are from the outset.

Copyright issues

Copyright is part of the system of legal protection that exists over the products of intellectual
and creative activity. It is one of a group of legal controls called intellectual property rights
(IPR) which each protect different forms of intellectual property, the others being patents,
trademarks, design right and database right. Copyright is concerned with original literary or
written work, as well as musical, dramatic and artistic works, films, sound recordings and
broadcast programmes, and consequently it is the type of IPR most often involved in the
publication of academic work and has to be considered when depositing material in
institutional or subject repositories.
Certain criteria have to be fulfilled before a work qualifies for copyright protection. However
these are relatively basic and are likely to apply to all work produced by academics and
economists. Firstly, the work must exist in material form, as it is impossible to protect ideas or
intellectual activity until it has been recorded in some way, and secondly it must be original,
which means not copied from something which already exists. Once these criteria have been
met copyright protection applies automatically. There is no registration procedure as is the
case with patents or designs.


Ownership
Ownership is the key position in the copyright system as the owner determines what can and
cannot be done with copyright protected work. The author or creator of a work is the first
owner of the copyright unless the work has been produced during the course of employment,
in which case the employer is the owner. However, this does not usually apply in higher
education as universities generally waive their rights as employers and do not attempt to claim
ownership of copyright in the research, articles and books which academics produce. In
practice there is some variation across Europe and between intuitions and so to be certain
what the situation is authors should check their institution’s IPR policy or their employment
contract. In most cases, however, the academic author will be the first owner of copyright in
any material they produce.
Authors can transfer their rights but they should be aware that once they sign these away and
pass ownership on to another party they are no longer free to do what they want with their
own work and may be prevented from doing things which they subsequently wish to with it,
including depositing it in an institutional or subject repository.

Versions
The version of the article or piece of published work that can be deposited or self-archived
should be specified in the publishing agreement or in the publisher’s copyright or selfarchiving
policy and this is basis of the classification of publishers’ policies in the RoMEO
database.

Safety and Security Threats
CBP has targeted and seized an increasing number of counterfeit products that pose safety threats to American consumers, to our infrastructure, and potentially to our security. These products range from electrical articles such as power cords and lights that can catch fire or shock consumers, to batteries that may explode or leak mercury, to personal care items such as toothpaste and shampoo that may contain harmful bacteria, to computer network components and semiconductors that can cripple infrastructure vital for national security.

2. How to conduct the royalty audits? Give the Illustrations.
Royalty auditing in the licensing industry is designed to establish the degree to which a user of protected creative property rights has fulfilled the legal obligation to compensate the rights owner for such use as was originally defined by contract. This is usually accomplished through reviewing, investigating, and examining the books and records of a license to determine if the reportings rendered by the license are in compliance with the various provisions and requirements of the contract between the two parties. The audit will include various procedures reflecting the terms of the agreement, applied to the royalty accounting records of the users. The results are then reported to the rights owner for use in resolving any issues of non-compliance. The royalty audit should provide solutions to royalty compliance and collection issues, solve problems and clarify contractual issues, add to the bottom line and provide valuable industry insight toward building stronger business relationships between the parties.
The licensor may want procedures performed to provide comfort that their copyrighted product is only being exploited under the terms, conditions and methods as provided in the contract and as intended by the licensor. Therefore, the scope of royalty auditing may be expanded to include a study of the business practices of the licensee, verification of quality control, and copyright protection.
Royalty audits may also be used to provide valuable insight into the business practices of both parties. Quite often licenses are negotiated and executed without either party having a full understanding of the accounting requirements. In fact, many licensees are ill equipped to fulfill the accounting and auditing provisions of the contract. Royalty audits are often used for the purpose of educating both parties as to their obligations in providing information to facilitate accurate and complete accountings. If communication is the issue, the terms and requirements may be clarified. If the problem lies within the accounting system, recommendation may be made to obtain a royalty system from a service provider or to obtain consulting services to build internal capabilities. Finally, either party may use a royalty audit as a source of data to prepare a valuation for mergers, or buy / sell transactions.

Legal Goals of the Royalty Audit
• Assess overall contract compliance
• Create awareness of your expectations of the selfreporting
licensee and to deter non-compliant behavior
Fi i l • Financial recovery
• Reduction of blind trust in the licensee
• Increased knowledge and information flow
• Check for unethical behavior
• Trademark protection and copyright notifications p pyg
– Reduce risks to your client by licensees use of your client’s name