At present, an important measure to measure whether an enterprise has competitive strength and evaluate its development potential is to see how many patents it has applied for and owned. The possession of patents and other intellectual property rights has become a symbol to measure the competitive strength of modern enterprises. Therefore, it should be one of the core strategies of enterprises to raise the patent work to a strategic height.
I. Patents and enterprise competition
(A) the core competitiveness of enterprises and its composition
The core competitiveness of an enterprise is its ability to develop unique products, unique technologies and unique marketing methods. It is the result of the integration of all aspects of the enterprise, including skills, technology, tangible resources, corporate culture and values. The core competitiveness of an enterprise is based on its core technical ability and has good uniqueness. Mainly includes:
1. R&D capability. It is a systematic creative activity to increase the total amount of knowledge and use this knowledge to create new applications.
2. The ability of continuous innovation. That is, according to the market and social changes, on the original basis, we should re-integrate human capital and other resources, conduct new product research and development, effectively organize production, constantly create and adapt to the market, and realize the established goals of enterprises.
3. The ability to transform technologies and inventions into products or real productivity. This is an inevitable requirement for the realization of the value of the first two abilities.
4. The ability to organize and coordinate enterprise production factors and carry out effective production. After the reform and innovation plan, new product and new technology plan and production target are formed, all kinds of resources of the enterprise should be mobilized and organized in time to operate effectively and orderly.
5. adaptability. The objective environment changes rapidly, so enterprise decision makers must keep the business strategy changing with the change of the objective environment, that is, because of the change of location, time, competitors and customers' consumption psychology.
(B) the impact of patents on the competitiveness of enterprises
The legal meaning of the word patent is patent right, which refers to the exclusive right granted by the national patent authority to the applicant and his successor to exploit his invention and creation within a certain period of time.
Since World War II, the competition among countries in the economic field has intensified, and the focus of competition is highlighted in the high-tech field and the market share of its products. As an important link between technology and market, patent system plays an important role and position in the world-wide economic competition, and has been paid universal attention by all countries. The impact of patents on the competitiveness of enterprises is reflected in the following aspects:
1. Patent information orientation is the premise for enterprises to maintain competitiveness. The importance of information for enterprise development is self-evident, and patent information plays an irreplaceable role in all-round decision-making of enterprises. Patent information provides a basis for enterprise development strategy, scientific research and development plan, technology trade and decision-making of introducing foreign capital.
2. The patent system is an incentive mechanism for enterprises to maintain competitiveness. Through the implementation of patents, on the one hand, the creative work achievements of scientific research workers and technicians in enterprises are recognized, and their enthusiasm for creative work is further mobilized. On the other hand, the patentee obtains the patent right of its technological innovation, which can effectively prevent other enterprises from technological imitation. In today's world, whoever owns an independent patent in a certain technical field can gain control in this field.
3. Patent law is an important legal guarantee for enterprises to maintain their competitiveness. Patent is a kind of right given by law to people's creative intellectual achievements, which provides legal guarantee for technological innovation. The essence of patent system is to encourage fair competition based on technological innovation. It establishes the rules of fair competition through patent law, trademark law, copyright law and anti-unfair competition law.
Second, the enterprise's patent strategy
(A) patent strategy
Enterprise patent strategy is a strategy that enterprises face the market demand and competitors' technological trends, use patent-related laws and systems, cooperate with enterprise competitive strategy, plan the vision and objectives of patent work as a whole, standardize the activities and management of each link of technological innovation, improve the innovation ability and core competitiveness of enterprises, and maximize benefits.
At present, the present situation of enterprise patents in China is not optimistic. By the end of 1999, China National Intellectual Property Administration * * * had received nearly 280,000 patent applications, 52% of which came from abroad, resulting in the loss of "patent territory" in China. Enterprises in China generally lack independent patents, and patents are not competitive. This is quite unfavorable for China enterprises to stick to the domestic market and enter the international market.
Enterprise patent strategy can bring unique competitive advantages to enterprises. The continuous growth of core technology, increasing income, and difficulty in imitation and substitution make the basic patent powerful, which can block competitors' channels and maintain competitive advantage for a long time. However, both core technology and independent innovation are characterized by high risk, which determines that the implementation of basic patent strategy is risky.
The core technology with independent intellectual property rights is the key to enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises. An enterprise, a nation and even a country must attach great importance to the development of core technologies with independent intellectual property rights in order to find their proper position in the world economic structure and turn enterprises into profitable national pillar enterprises. May our enterprise attach great importance to independent intellectual property rights, and become a large-scale pillar enterprise that can create huge economic benefits for the country in the near future and a manufacturing factory of national wealth.
(B) to build a variety of options for enterprise patent strategy
According to the characteristics of enterprises in China, we can choose the following patent strategies in patent application, patent operation, technological innovation and market development:
1. In the aspect of patent application, peripheral patent strategy and literature disclosure strategy can be adopted. (1) peripheral patent strategy, also known as patent network strategy, is a strategy for enterprises to develop peripheral technologies around other people's basic patents and apply for patents in time. In this way, a patent network around basic patents can be formed, which is to actively change the passive situation and break through the monopoly of basic patents. (2) The strategy of document disclosure refers to that an enterprise will disclose inventions and creations that do not need to apply for patent rights in the media, making them public technology, so as to prevent other enterprises or individuals from obtaining patent rights.
2. In patent management, patent licensing strategy, patent monopoly strategy and litigation request strategy can be adopted. (1) Patent licensing strategy refers to that an enterprise allows other enterprises to use its patented technology for compensation in order to maximize profits or obtain the international market, sales channels, auxiliary facilities, researchers or achievements of the licensed enterprise. (2) Patent monopoly strategy refers to the exclusive implementation and use of patented products with very promising market prospects by enterprises themselves, thus monopolizing technical fields and markets. (3) The litigation request strategy refers to collecting complete evidence through investigation after the patent is authorized, and bringing a lawsuit against the infringement of others to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
3. In terms of technological innovation, we can adopt the patent strategy of bypassing obstacles, the strategy of purchasing patents or licenses and the strategy of using invalid patents. (1) patent strategy to bypass obstacles, that is, to bypass the claims of existing patents and use other people's patented technology within the scope not protected by the patent field. For technical products with market value, as long as they are not protected by patents in China, China enterprises can manufacture and sell such technical products in China; Without patent protection in a third country, it can be exported to a third country. (2) the strategy of purchasing patents or licenses, that is, by purchasing patents or licenses, enterprises can not only improve their technical level, but sometimes monopolize a market. (3) Using the strategy of invalid patents, a large number of invalid patents have become the wealth of the world at present, and people can use them without paying any fees, or take invalid patents as the starting point of R&D and innovation, and apply for new patents on this basis. This is a simple and economical strategy for small and medium-sized enterprises with insufficient scientific research funds.
4. In the aspect of market development, we can adopt the strategy of cross-licensing, the strategy of patent application in exporting countries and the strategy of combining patents with trademarks. (1) Cross-licensing strategy means that enterprises have relatively close patented technologies. For the needs of business strategy, enterprises exchange their own patents for the right to use the other's patented technology, so they have the strategy of narrowing the technological distance between them and signing patent cross-licensing contracts. (2) For export-oriented SMEs, the strategy of applying for patents in exporting countries can be adopted, that is, applying for patents in countries where enterprises intend to export products, controlling the market with patented technology and resisting others' occupation of the market. (3) The combination strategy of patent and trademark includes two aspects: the combination strategy with the trademark of the enterprise and the combination strategy with the trademark of others. The strategy of combining with enterprise trademark refers to the strategy that the patentee uses his own trademark on his patented product, establishes the reputation of the trademark through patent protection, and the trademark right can be continuously renewed, thus extending the protection period of the patented product.
To sum up, there are many forms of enterprise patent strategy, not all of which are suitable for an enterprise. Enterprises should actively and flexibly use it according to the changing market information, the different situations of different competitors and the changes of the same competitor, and combine their own position in the competitive environment, R&D ability, economic strength and business development strategy to form a patent strategy system of "strong attack, balanced defense and weak follow". Only in this way can we get rid of the predicament, highlight the tight encirclement and be invincible in the fierce international competition.
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