Applying for a patent is not enough, you need a patent layout!

When Chinese companies enter the international market, a considerable number of them are blocked by patents, or get caught in overseas patent lawsuits, and encounter patent encirclement and suppression by multinational companies. Intellectual property and patents are not only the core competitiveness of an enterprise, but also an essential weapon to defend itself. "CEConline" specially invited three experts, Wang Yusong, Li Dawei and Song Siqi, to discuss how enterprises can do a good job in the protection of intellectual property rights and patents, and how to deal with the intrusion of patent rogue companies.

CEConline: What is the current situation of intellectual property and patent protection of Chinese enterprises? What are the differences with developed countries?

Wang Yusong: Although China's Intellectual Property and Patent Law was issued in 1984, it has been improved and revised several times in the middle, and it has reached a considerable level from the level of legal provisions, but the overall situation of intellectual property and patent protection of Chinese enterprises is In other words, it is still in the process of development, to be precise, it is in the initial stage of application level.

Under the background of the country's "going out" in the past few years, Chinese enterprises have learned several lessons and suffered great losses in the matter of intellectual property patents. Therefore, Chinese enterprises have already suffered from obvious patent infringement. However, in terms of intellectual property and patent protection applications, the difference is very obvious. Of course, this is inseparable from the domestic intellectual property protection atmosphere and the awareness of individuals and companies. Looking at the reasons, in the final analysis, it is caused by the lack of application ability and usage methods of intellectual property patent protection.

As we all know, in 2014, Xiaomi was sued by Ericsson for infringing its core patents in the field of communications. Xiaomi faced the protection of numerous patents and property rights, and could only pay to settle the matter. Judging from the actual situation, Chinese enterprises are very obvious compared with developed countries in the number of intellectual property patents, the level of core patents, and the practicality of patents, not to mention the patent layout, patent strategy, patent early warning and auxiliary innovation, and patent-assisted technology research. In terms of applications, the gap with developed countries is even greater. Therefore, domestic enterprises, especially those who want to become the first-class enterprises in the industry, must catch up and keep in mind not to be satisfied with the superficial phenomenon of the rapid increase in the total number of patents in our country.

In addition, in recent years, Chinese companies have acquired foreign companies with large sums of money to realize the transfer of ownership of patent and intellectual property rights. It has to be said that it is also a strategy. Patents are not for sale. The most important thing is that acquisitions cannot replace the cultivation of enterprises' independent innovation capabilities and talent system, and are not conducive to the long-term development of enterprises.

Song Siqi: Chinese enterprises have recognized the importance of intellectual property and patent protection, but the ability to apply intellectual property and patents is still relatively weak. Although the number of intellectual property rights and patents in China is huge, the quality of most of the patents is relatively low, and many patents have not been applied to actual products and have not produced due value.

Dawei Li: The protection of patents and intellectual property rights in the world has returned from an extreme to a new balance. The review shows that the domestic intellectual property protection is just at the other extreme. While improving this protection, it is necessary to understand that this new balance of the world is changing.

In the past 10 years, China's Shanzhai has evolved into an open and innovative template, and is no longer an industry chain that can only be plagiarized and copied. Through the system of public board, public model and white card, more people can participate in this industry, and various new products, especially in the field of information, can quickly go from innovation to large-scale dissemination.

CEConline: What is the value of intellectual property and patent protection for business development?

Wang Yusong: The value of intellectual property and patent protection to enterprises is not an exaggeration to describe it as "life and death". Ericsson sued Xiaomi for patent infringement in communication, which is a dispute over the economic value of intellectual property, and the loss is The specific money, and let's look at HTC again, suing him is that it is a competitor Apple, the goal of the lawsuit is not to ask for fees, but to kill it directly. Samsung, Apple, Google, Microsoft and other companies with a large amount of technology, in fact, patent lawsuits often occur between them, but in the end most of them are settled in court. why? Because these companies have a clear patent strategy, a huge patent layout and an early warning mechanism for comprehensive patent protection, no one can overwhelm the other.

In recent years, there have been special consultations on patent strategy and patent layout in China to improve the comprehensive ability of enterprises to apply patents. This is a very gratifying change. Those enterprises that are trapped in patent disputes or When entering the first-class enterprises in the industry, most of them are particularly active, and they are faced with almost the same situation when they are close to understanding the general discovery—the number of competitors’ patents is large, the core patents cannot be bypassed, and the patents of future generations of products/technologies are already in place. Being stuck, competitors follow and imitate too fast, and it is impossible to guarantee the continuous leading of technology. At this level, it is a question of how to continuously and rapidly innovate.

Domestic enterprises are calling for industrial upgrading, from OEM to ODM, but the huge number of foreign patents and the limitation of core patents are a huge obstacle for enterprises. From technical patent authorization to factory manufacturing and zero-defect quality of products, it is a link between the previous and the next. If an enterprise does not have core patented technology, it can only manufacture or purchase patents. Even if the company's products reach the Six Sigma level, it is essentially an excellent foundry.

Song Siqi: Only companies with core technologies in the value chain can earn higher profits. For example, Apple, although it is produced in China's Foxconn Company, can earn high profits because it controls intellectual property rights such as core technologies and brands, while the foundry Foxconn can only get a small part. Chinese companies need to learn how to turn intellectual property into real value.

Dawei Li: In the future of open innovation and democratization of innovation, intellectual property is of little value. Arduino and Linux are good examples. In the context of open source hardware and open source software, these two projects provide the foundation for a very large ecosystem, allowing a new generation of innovators to have new platforms and new ways to innovate.

CEConline: What aspects should enterprises pay attention to when protecting intellectual property rights and patents?

Wang Yusong: To apply for a patent for a certain technical point, there are several corporate activities and details involved that are worthy of our attention. For example, when applying for a patent, it is necessary to check for novelty and duplication, and how to make better utility models and inventions. The choice of the patent; the four books of the patent should be complete, and the main claims should be related to the quality of the entire patent and even whether it is valid, otherwise it will be invalid in the future patent technology protection disputes. However, I believe that these precautions have reached a general consensus among enterprises, and these are the common practices of most domestic enterprises.

In addition, regarding intellectual property protection, I would like to emphasize that this refers to the protection of intellectual products in a broad sense and large, rather than applying for patent protection for a certain technical point, because many companies are currently It is very risky to write only one patent for a technology point. It is very risky to realize the protection of patent property rights. It requires comprehensive mechanisms such as patent strategy and patent layout. It is by no means simple to apply for a patent point for protection. strategic objectives of the economic market.

Therefore, in order to protect intellectual property rights, enterprises have to do a lot of things. It is a comprehensive reflection of the strength of the enterprise. Any problems in any link will greatly weaken its role, and the patent and intellectual property rights must be improved. To the "system" height to pay attention.

Dawei Li: In this new era of open innovation, patents are a tool for existing large companies to protect their vested interests, and cannot be used to protect small and new innovators. From the perspective of windows, with the advent of the era of open source software and hardware, makers representing open innovation should start to consider how to compete and innovate in an environment without intellectual property barriers in the future.

CEConline: What do you think of those patent troll companies that rely on patents to survive?

Wang Yusong: The protection of patent intellectual property rights depends on the patent law and the behavior of the main body of enterprises to jointly realize the norms of the patent market. However, as a reflection of the law, the patent law must have its common aspect, that is, the law. There are loopholes and loopholes, no matter how perfect they are. In addition to the economic uncertainty of patents and the strong technical nature of patents, driven by economic interests, there will naturally be companies that make profits by launching patent infringement lawsuits. These The company does not have a physical business, which is called a patent troll company.

The living environment of patent troll companies in the United States is much better than that of Japan. Therefore, there are many patent troll companies in the United States. They are professional and full-time, and to a large extent hinder the technological development of society and corporate innovation activities. In recent years There have also been some patent rogue companies in China, including international rogue companies, which have settled in China and opened branches and offices continuously, and there are obvious signs of rising, which deserves our high vigilance.

Li Dawei: These patent troll companies are the best evidence to turn patents and intellectual property into vested interests to protect themselves. We must return patents and intellectual property to their fundamentals to protect the real knowledge Innovators who do things with property rights and patents. Rather than making intellectual property a means of legal action.

Song Siqi: Most of the patent troll companies are mainly legal companies with their own legal resources. These companies do not have their own core patents and play legal games by exploiting legal loopholes, which will affect the efficiency of innovation. In recent years, the United States, which has been plagued by patent troll companies, has taken some steps to increase restrictions on patent speculative companies.

CEConline: How can companies deal with patent trolls?

Wang Yusong: There are two main types of companies that these patent trolls want to attack—large companies or small and medium-sized high-tech companies. , intellectual property rights and even the entire resources are poorly prepared, and the affordability is very limited. At this time, a patent troll will sue for a patent, and it is very likely that a sword will be blocked.

These companies that only make profits by means of patent infringement litigation—patent troll companies are cultural hooligans in terms of business content and form, and they play with technical and legal loopholes. Everything has dialectics. In a sense, patent troll companies force companies to respond quickly, pay attention to patent applications, and make up for their own patent strategies, and patent troll companies will not be easily entangled. Small start-up companies, because of their own lack of strength, can take the form of a company alliance to form a combination in the early stage. After passing through the dangerous stage, they can improve their patent strategies and other activities.

What is worrying is that domestic patent intellectual property protection and comprehensive patent strategy have just started. If you face these foreign mature rogue companies directly, the chance of losing the lawsuit is very high and the economic loss is also huge. Therefore, For technology companies, while continuously innovating and strengthening their awareness of patent protection, they should also establish a patent early warning mechanism in time, otherwise it will be too late to regret.

Always, the core of all the above-mentioned intellectual property and patent protection is the issue of enterprise innovation efficiency, innovation capability, including innovation management, innovation strategy system and other comprehensive issues.