Repost an article from Taiwan W’s patent agent:
After Taiwan W decriminalized patent infringement a few years ago, all patent infringement issues have changed from criminal litigation to civil litigation. Litigation means that at most it is just monetary compensation, and since when claiming compensation, the person has the obligation to provide evidence, the protection of patents does not seem to be as strong as imagined. Therefore, a well-known patent senior proposed " "The theory that patents are useless" has aroused widespread repercussions, and I think that the predecessors must have felt it, and may have a deep love and deep responsibility for the incompleteness of the patent laws at that time. However, they often became many patent newbies. It is used as a reference for whether to join a patentee, and it is also a good chat topic for patent veterans. However, there are also inventors who are deterred by this, and do not take patent protection measures for their inventions in a timely manner, resulting in losses, which is also a pity. ; In the discussions of some senior scholars, there is often the so-called "one good patent is better than many small improvement patents". I deeply agree with this sentence, but I must add later that if the company does not have a good patent for the time being, High-quality patented inventions, first supplemented by several small inventions, are still a powerful tool for growing the company in the future and are also the basis for patent layout.
In fact, the significance of small inventions in terms of patent layout cannot be ignored, and they often play a decisive role, with the following Go-like effect. A few key people can conquer the city and gradually encroach on the technical field. Whale swallowing, a "many but useful" patent group, can form a fortress internally and build your own patent city; externally, it can be used as a pocket tactic in the patent layout, or form an obstruction wall to prevent others from easily expanding it. The integrity of the patent map; for dispersed patented technologies, if they are in the middle of other people's patent groups (missing points in the scope of other people's patent applications), it can also have the effect of weakening the opponent's patent strength. And unlike Go, that The chess piece will not be inadvertently eaten by the opponent; from this perspective, the benefits of obtaining a patent have two meanings: one is to passively expand one's patent territory, of course, high-quality patents are the best; the other is to actively expand one's patent territory. Find gaps in other people's high-quality patents and turn them into your own patent points. No matter how big or small the patent points are, as long as there are many, you can achieve the effect of cooperation or checks and balances with the other party. At this level, the company must develop its own patent points. Brand, I am afraid that applying for most patents is still a necessary step.
Hitachi's famous saying: "Patents" are valuable. As long as the company uses the patented technology, the patent is valuable; then when will the maximum value of the patent occur? The greatest value of a patent will occur when "competitors or other users in the same industry have no choice but to use the patented technology!"
The Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute, which has abundant patent production, is in the data Years ago, many valid patent rights began to be sold off, and many manufacturers competed to bid. For the sales of a large number of patent rights, ITRI "packaged" several patents of the same nature into one unit and sold them at the same time, which could also achieve considerable profits. , so a large number of patents are still profitable.
In addition, when two competitors have a patent dispute, the best outcome is often mutual sharing of patent rights between the two parties. Although there is still some amount of compensation on the surface, it can still reach The goal is a win-win situation, and when you want to go to the negotiation table, if the number of patents is not large, the momentum will be much worse, and maybe Party A’s small patent can just hit the important key points of Party B’s product, so blindly thinking that too many patents are I personally think that the situation is not that sad. Of course, although the patent rights for outdated products have not yet expired, giving up voluntarily can be regarded as a way to save the company's expenses. That is another level. Question, not much comment here.
Therefore, even if it is a creation completed with low technical means, according to the current patent law, it is still possible to obtain a (utility) model patent through formal examination. Many people think that it is of little use, but As long as the product is still on sale, it is still unclear whether there is still room for negotiation or transfer. This is where intellectual property practitioners can play. Therefore, you may wish to carefully consider the decision between retaining the patent and deleting the patent.
I have met many business owners who thought that their customers (buyers) had established long-term transactions and had good friendships with each other, so they thought that patents were no longer necessary and gave up on them. However, when the patent case was determined to be invalid, other businesses came to purchase the patent with royalties, and many trading opportunities were suddenly lost; and after the patent rights were given up, a large number of small factories continued to produce low-priced and low-quality objects. It will disrupt the original market conditions and harm its own interests. In this way, it is self-evident whether the patent is useless or useful.
Chen Tianlong shares with you...