At present, the intellectual property issues faced by Chinese companies overseas have presented a more complicated situation. How to prevent overseas intellectual property risks? How to deal with overseas intellectual property disputes? At the 2018 China Intellectual Property Protection High-level Forum held recently, experts were How Chinese companies better 'go out' advice and advice.
Full-scale layout
Avoid intellectual property infringement
Before the company explores the international market, it is necessary to fully research the intellectual property status of the target market, do its homework in advance, and avoid the occurrence of patent infringement.
As the world’s second largest economy, the first largest trading nation of goods, and the second largest foreign investment country, China’s pace of “going global” in enterprises and products has continued to accelerate in recent years, and disputes over IPR frictions it has encountered have gradually increased. In addition to the alleged infringement of intellectual property rights, the products were removed from the overseas participation process. In addition to the detention of customs-related products, IPR infringement litigation and overseas trade remedy investigations have become common market competition methods for foreign competitors.
"If companies don't have intellectual property awareness, and they plan ahead in advance, they will have a hard time going overseas and going further." Chen Welfare, Director of the Department of the Law and Regulations of the Ministry of Commerce, reminds us that companies must target the target market. 3. Make a full study of the status of intellectual property and do your homework in advance to avoid patent infringement.
Not long ago, according to information released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 2017, China submitted 486 international patent applications for PCT, ranking second in the world. 'These data can show that more and more Chinese companies are In the process of participating in global competition, we are constantly raising awareness of patents. However, we must also realize that intellectual property rights are not limited to patents. According to the TRIPS TRIPS Agreement, intellectual property rights involve patents, trademarks, and copyright geography. Marks, industrial designs and other eight aspects. 'Chen Welfare believes that we must conduct a comprehensive understanding of intellectual property rights, from technology research and development to product production to after-sales service, there are problems in the management of intellectual property rights in all aspects. To be invincible in international competition.
The data shows that as of December 31, 2017, TCL Group has applied for 31012 Chinese patents, 7,337 U.S. patents, 8627 PCT patents, and accumulative patent grants amounted to 15,772. The core technology covers printed OLED display technology, HDR technology, and quantum Point technology and other fields. Thanks to the comprehensive layout of intellectual property rights, in 2017, TCL Group's color TV business achieved rapid growth. Shipment volume in the global market reached 10.9%, second only to Samsung and LG Group.
According to Lu Guoliang, consultant of the World Intellectual Property Organization (China) in China, domestic enterprises should pay close attention to the protection of cross-border intellectual property rights and intellectual property disputes provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization. For example, the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs can provide patent applicants with A more economical, more streamlined international registration system.
The Madrid International Trademark Registration System (hereinafter referred to as the Madrid System) provides global trademark registration and management solutions. Enterprises can apply for protection in as many as 117 countries by submitting only one application. This has low costs, simple procedures, and convenience. Fast, wide coverage and other advantages. In addition, the World Intellectual Property Organization also has a special arbitration mediation and service mechanism, which can help companies deal with disputes in the overseas development process to help avoid risks.
Market risk resistance
More emphasis on patent quality
In the process of 'going out', the quality of patents determines whether the company’s technological achievements can be effectively protected and its future position in market competition.
'The availability of a certain amount of intellectual property rights is only the first step for Chinese companies to go abroad. To be successful, we need to ensure the quality of intellectual property. 'From the opinion of Liu Huajun, the chief partner of Shanghai Jiazhihui Law Firm, the number of patents Reflects the degree of importance that companies attach to overseas markets in the process of 'going global', and the quality of patents determines whether the company’s technological achievements can be effectively protected and its future position in market competition.
Su Wang, vice president of the Jingdong Group and head of the patent department, believes that patent quality is more important than the number of patents. The ability of a company to resist market risks depends largely on the quality of the patent.
As the leader in the domestic telecommunications industry, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ranked first in the PCT international patent applications in 2017 with 4,024 patents. 'Liu Huajun said that Huawei has done a great job in balancing the quality and quantity of intellectual property. .
It is precisely because of the high importance attached to the quality of intellectual property that Huawei has always insisted on investing no less than 10% of sales revenue each year for product R&D and technological innovation. In addition to its main ICT, it also faces cloud computing. Exploring emerging hot spots such as NFV/SDN and 5G. At the same time, Huawei also implemented a standard patent strategy to form a management team with full responsibility for scientific research, patents and standards, and actively promoted the global layout of standard patents. The necessary patents for international standards enable companies to take the initiative in the international competition.
'The scope of patent rights determines the quality of the patent, the wider the scope, the higher the quality of the patent, but pay attention to a detail - the translation.' Suwan, for example, said that most domestic companies tend to go domestic before going overseas. Apply for a patent, and then translate the Chinese version of the patent in the language of the target country. Because the patent vocabulary is highly specialized, any semantic deviation in the vocabulary during the translation process will affect the scope of the claims of the final patent. Even the entire patent becomes worthless. Therefore, companies must pay special attention to the translation when the patent is 'out to sea' so as not to lose the entire patent work.
Share all resources
Overseas rights defense
Enterprises should make full use of the strengths of relevant government departments, industry associations and other institutions. Once they encounter overseas intellectual property rights infringement disputes, they must jointly respond and take the initiative to take the initiative.
Due to the relatively weak foundation of talents, funds, and information, in recent years, Chinese companies have encountered trademark squeezing out of the country and have fallen into competitors' patent traps. In particular, SMEs have a particularly serious problem. The cost of overseas rights protection has also increased. Gao, Many Chinese companies are unable to cope with overseas intellectual property disputes. They often suffer from "deafness." In this regard, Su Wang has a deep understanding: 'Many companies cannot afford to pay for overseas rights protection.'
Lu Pengqi, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, also feels that it is necessary to give full play to the guiding role of government departments and overseas agencies in the investigation of overseas intellectual property infringements, investigation of major issues, foreign exchange negotiations, and overseas intellectual property early warning. By strengthening domestic legislation, it regulates the infringement of intellectual property rights of Chinese companies in foreign economic and trade cooperation, prompting relevant countries to respect and protect the intellectual property rights of Chinese enterprises.
'The IPR dispute cases encountered by Chinese companies overseas, especially the '337 investigations' encountered in the United States, to a certain extent, reflect the industry's intellectual property competition. ' Lu Pengqi said that business associations and other business organizations should actively play Industry self-discipline function, supervise and guide industry enterprises to consciously resist infringement, and try to avoid falling into disputes.
In response to the issue of protecting the rights of SMEs overseas, Xie Guanbin, partner of Beijing Cube Law Firm, suggested adopting the method of “warring others” to make full use of the strengths of relevant government departments, industry associations and other institutions to strengthen communication and share resources. 2. Overseas intellectual property rights infringement disputes should be handled jointly and timely and take the initiative.