In addition to the United States, there is also Japan, which regards intellectual property as an important guarantee of national economic security.
On May 3 1, Japanese media reported that Prime Minister kishida fumio would announce the establishment of a new economic safety room. As part of the reform of the Japanese government, the office will coordinate the implementation of the reform among government ministries and agencies dealing with economic and internal affairs.
On may 1 1, the Japanese parliament just passed the new economic security law. The new legislation involves four key pillars: (1) supply chain stability; (2) Protecting critical infrastructure; (3) promoting public-private cooperation to develop cutting-edge technologies; (4) Protecting sensitive technology patents.
The Japanese government plans to promulgate the bill during the current session of the National Assembly in mid-June, and the bill will take effect next spring.
This new legislation is regarded as a preventive measure against threats from China and Russia. However, critics also said that this law may give the government too much power to interfere with the people, especially some provisions, such as restricting Japan's export of key raw materials to China, which may lead to further tension between China and Japan, just like the supply cut-off incident between Japan and South Korea in 20 19.
In this new legislation, the key technologies that Japan will further tighten and the measures to introduce rare unpublished patents are very worthy of attention.
According to media reports, according to the bill, individuals who report false information or disclose non-public patent data in the screening of infrastructure projects will be sentenced to up to two years in prison.
Behind this legislation, it shows that Japan has always identified "economic security" as an important part of government policy.
The Japanese government first set up an economic department in the National Security Secretariat in 2020. At the Expert Advisory Group on Economic Security Legislation ("Expert Advisory Group") organized in the last ten days of 2002110, four key pillars involved in the new legislation were identified. On February 25th, 2022, the Japanese Cabinet approved the Economic Security Promotion Act, which was finally passed by the National Assembly in May.
The following are the brief contents of the four key pillars, focusing on the detailed analysis of key technologies and sensitive patents.
1. Strengthen the supply chain
In order to build a stronger supply chain, the Japanese government plans to list semiconductor chips, large-capacity batteries, medicines and rare earth products as key projects, and the government will pay close attention to suppliers' procurement plans and provide financial support.
The public sector provides support to the private sector. Supported by subsidies and discount interest, an inquiry system that provides necessary information and consulting services for companies funded by government subsidies.
The following activities will be the main support targets:
★ Develop domestic production infrastructure.
★ Diversified supply sources
★ storage
★ Development and improvement of production technology
★ Development of alternative products
★ Promote recycling.
Designated financial institutions. Refers to financial institutions that have obtained loans from Japanese financial companies and are designated to provide appropriate and reliable support for certified supply business operators. The competent minister has the right to issue orders to designated financial institutions on the provision of such support.
2. Ensure the safety and reliability of key infrastructure.
In order to prevent hackers from attacking critical infrastructure from the outside, the pre-assessment system will be applicable to the introduction and maintenance of critical infrastructure by the management Committee.
The Japanese government will screen the equipment that operators plan to install to reduce the vulnerability of cyber attacks and prevent the use of overseas components that may pose a security threat.
In fact, this point is that the 5G technology promoted by the United States in its allies will be Huawei-oriented and China-oriented.
3. Dissemination of key technologies by public and private sectors
In order to support the development of dual-use technology, the Japanese government will set up a committee composed of government officials, representatives of private enterprises and university researchers. It also plans to set up a fund worth 500 billion yen (US$ 4.3 billion) to support research on the latest overseas technological development through the national think tank.
The definition of "specific key technology" in the new law refers to technologies that belong to the following two categories at the same time:
★ Advanced technologies that are essential for maintaining people's lives and future economic activities;
★ If the research results related to this technology are used outside without authorization, or the supply of goods, materials or services using this technology is unstable, it may damage the technology of Japan and its citizens.
At present, it includes AI technology, quantum technology, biotechnology, space and ocean technology.
Establish a fund. The Prime Minister may designate a fund to promote the research and development of specific key technologies, make appropriate use of its achievements as a specific fund, and provide subsidies to the fund.
Organization management. The government can organize an R&D committee funded by the state, composed of researchers and competent ministers, to promote and correctly use specific key technologies. The Committee focuses on the following aspects:
★ Collect and analyze information that is helpful to research and develop specific key technologies;
★ Formulate policies to effectively promote the research and development of specific key technologies;
★ Handling of research and development achievements of specific key technologies;
★ Properly manage the information of specific key technologies.
Outsourcing to think tanks. The Prime Minister may outsource all or part of such investigations and studies to the competent department, and the person in charge of the competent administrative department may provide necessary information and documents related to investigations and studies at the request of the competent department.
Overall view of related work:
4. Sensitive patents are not disclosed.
The Japanese government has incorporated the protection of sensitive patents into the new economic security legislation policy. This bold move reflects the urgency of maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive patents.
According to Japanese media reports, the international application for such patents is prohibited, and the Japanese government is prepared to compensate the license income for nearly 20 years.
The sensitive areas announced this time include technologies related to nuclear technology and military weapon development.
This is based on the existing "confidentiality review" in various countries, which further upgrades the control of disclosing sensitive technologies through patent applications. To this end, the Japanese government: (1) will implement a system to prevent the publication of such patent applications; And (ii) measures to protect information related to such patent applications will be implemented.
In the specific operation, the review will be divided into two stages to determine whether to designate an invention as a protected object to prevent the information of the invention from leaking.
(1) First stage inspection
By considering the standards listed in the relevant cabinet order, a review will be conducted to determine whether an invention belongs to a certain technical field ("specific technical field"), which is likely to include the disclosure of inventions that may endanger the safety of Japan and its people. In principle, inventions belonging to this category will enter the second stage of examination. The decision whether to advance the exam to the second stage will be made within three months after the first stage exam begins.
(2) the second stage inspection
With the cooperation of state agencies and external experts, whether it is necessary to designate it as a protected object will be determined by considering the threat to Japan and its citizens when the invention is made public and the potential impact on industrial progress when the invention is not made public.
See the following figure for the specific review process:
In short, through such a layer-by-layer screening mechanism, it is ensured that the patents of Japanese sensitive technologies will not be easily disclosed. The fundamental purpose is to prevent plagiarism in other countries.
This system also sets a transition period, which is not applicable to patents that are still being applied for when the Economic Guarantee Law is promulgated. This measure also does not apply to pending patent applications that have been newly incorporated into specific technical fields by amending relevant cabinet orders. These Measures shall be valid for two years from the date of promulgation.
summary
The main imaginary enemy of Japanese government's economic security law is China, especially in the key technology, which is currently protected by shrinking. Especially for the way that sensitive patents are not disclosed, we should pay more attention to it.
Although this bill only mentions that nuclear technology is related to military weapons, the decision in this field lies with the Japanese government. The Japanese government has the means to "ban" all technologies that the Japanese government thinks have an impact on its national economic security, including civilian technologies, such as semiconductor chips, large-capacity batteries, quantum technologies, etc. Where Japan has certain advantages.
From a practical point of view, the Japanese government will provide 20-year license fee compensation for undisclosed sensitive patents, but how to operate it is not clear. Its essence is to encourage enterprises to research and develop, while leaving the core technology in Japan.
In fact, it is not surprising that Japan has introduced such regulations, which will be greatly influenced by the United States. The Japanese government's economic security law this time is more like cooperating with Biden's government to form an "encirclement" of China in high technology.
At present, there are similar calls in the United States for this kind of non-disclosure of patents, the fundamental purpose of which is to curb the rapid rise of China and prevent China from using the patent information of other countries to achieve the purpose of rapid learning and catching up.
The Japanese government's behavior can be regarded as the comprehensive cooperation between the United States and its western allies in the field of innovative scientific and technological information, and the intention of "cutting off" China's access to high-tech information is obvious.