Hong Kong Architect James Law Hopes to Spread His Architectural Designs Around the World by Intellectual Property Trading

When mentioning about intellectual property transactions, people usually think of areas including medical, electronics and biotechnology. Hong Kong architects James Law said that, in fact, architectural buildings can also benefit from intellectual property transactions, "More and more buildings have combined unique architecture with advanced technology, such as our company's designs for the Dubai government's Tecnosphere, hope that intellectual property transactions will share our designs to the rest of the world!"

James obtained a degree in architecture in 1992 from the University of London, and obtained a master degree in 1994. He is an outstanding student of the famous British designer Peter Cook, James works of the avant-garde, which does not match the British Conservative architectural style, and subsequently returned to Hong Kong to work, and founded Cybertecture, his own company, in 2001. Cybertecture aims to use innovative materials, direction and will to design. Its business scope includes architectural design, interior design and product design.

He said in the future more and more buildings will adopt advanced technology, intellectual property is very important for architects. Though there is no official recognition of intellectual property for the building as a whole, but the building can still be sold through a unique license to developers. "Buildings are like electronic products, for example, the iPhone has product designers, project designers, and constructions also require similar expertise; iPhone has built-in software, the building also has smart home, so the company is moving towards a unique approach to design buildings by accumulating intellectual property and to license to developers around the world to build according to their designs."

He added that, "Hong Kong is a very good platform for intellectual property transactions, because the most important part for intellectual property is to gain international recognition, sound legal system and Hong Kong’s image international trade centre has established a good reputation, which reduces unnecessary disputes and doubts; Meanwhile, organizations and companies around the world come to Hong Kong for business opportunities, providing lots of potential buyers and sellers for intellectual property. "

Cybertecture's finest creation in recent years is Tecnosphere located in Dubai, the building has many unique technology, which he described, "It will be located in the city of Dubai TechnoPark, which is the new technological centre, and it is a green building designed by innovative methods. Tecnosphere is spherical shaped and environmental friendly, with minimal surface volume to create the largest practical space; In addition, Tecnosphere's structure uses Earth elements such as shapes, materials, ecosystems, science and technology, and also sufficient solar energy, wind power, and control the handling of waste, sewage and other recycling system, such as the use of Grey Water System. The used water will be pumped into a storage tank, after purification, the water can be used to shower plants or flushing. We expect that intellectual property transactions can spread Tecnosphere all over the world in the future. "

He pointed out that intellectual property rights of these designs are jointly owned by Cybertecture and engineering firm Ove Arup & Partners. They have set an agreement with the Dubai developer, indicating that they are the owners of the Tecnosphere intellectual property rights and the Dubai developers cannot build Tecnosphere elsewhere; In future, there might be Tecnosphere all over the world, which architectural firms will become technological companies. Therefore, intellectual property is important to us, as we can license our design technology and expand the business in the future.

James mentioned that the industry has discussed about intellectual property in the construction sector in recent years. They are worried that if buildings are not protected by patents like medical technology and electronic devices, the value of construction will reduce. Moreover, it is very easy to plagiarize in current digital age. Therefore, they hope that there are officially recognized intellectual property protection patent for buildings in the near future.

Apart from architectural design, Cybertecture launched its own product called Cybertecture Mirror. He mentioned that many years ago, India's leading developer Wadhwa & Associates Realtors Pvt. Ltd invited Cybertecture to cooperate for the construction of The Pad, which is inspired by the iPads. In the building, by pressing a button, it will show the scenery all over the world outside the window.

He said a lot of internal research and development has been completed to develop smart products for the building at that time, which Cybertecture Mirror is one of them. When users are standing in front of the Cybertecture Mirror, the mirror will show the user’s temperature, blood pressure and weight. They have registered patents for both functions and appearances in Mainland China and the United States, and to sell as independent products under their company.

He said that they have launched Cybertecture Mirror to the market this year. They have successfully received orders from Hong Kong, Europe, India and other countries, mainly for hotel and residential purposes. At present, the company has business segments in the Middle East, China and India, and is based in Hong Kong. They also have offices in India and the Middle East. He mentioned from an expert in last year's World Economic Conference, that at present half of the world's resources are used for buildings, so if there is a breakthrough in green architecture, we will be able to greatly reduce waste. Therefore, Cybertecture is committed to build and design a self-generating building, and then extended to the rest of the world through intellectual property transactions, in order to protect our environment.

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