Keywords: intellectual property strategy; Technical standards; Article 337; technical innovation
China Library Classification Number: D9 13.99 Document Identification Number: A Document Number:1004-1605 (2012) 08/09-0083-05.
About the author:? Qiao (1958-), male, from Jingjiang, Jiangsu, is a professor of economics at the Party School of Nantong Municipal Committee and director of the research department. His main research direction is world economy and development economics.
Since 1980s, the development of foreign trade in major developed countries has been unbalanced. Especially in recent years, the world economy continues to slump, which intensifies the trade imbalance between industries and even between countries and regions, making new trade protectionism more and more a new feature of international trade. Non-tariff barriers such as technical barriers, anti-dumping and intellectual property protection have become the main forms of new trade protectionism. As a typical representative of developing countries, China is facing more and more intellectual property disputes. Faced with this situation, we must understand and master the new trends and characteristics of world intellectual property competition, and take corresponding measures to make Chinese enterprises invincible in the world intellectual property competition.
First, the new trend of world intellectual property competition
1. The combination of intellectual property protection and trade is getting closer and closer.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) sets the minimum standards for the protection of intellectual property rights in the trade activities of WTO members. Intellectual property rights are linked with international trade, and trade sanctions are regarded as a powerful weapon to protect intellectual property rights through multilateral negotiations. By virtue of their dominant position in intellectual property rights, major developed countries safeguard the interests of their own enterprises in domestic and foreign markets and suppress countries and enterprises that have certain competitive influence with them. For example, the "Special Clause 30 1" in the US Trade Law and the Clause 337 in the Tariff Law are the legal clauses specifically used to suppress relevant countries and enterprises with competitive influence. American "30 1 clause" has narrow sense and broad sense. The narrow 30 1 clause was formulated by the United States when it revised its trade law in 1974. Generalized 30 1 clause includes general 30 1 clause, special 30 1 clause, super 30 1 clause and its supporting measures. Special clause 30 1 aims at intellectual property protection and intellectual property market access; Super clause 30 1 aims at foreign trade barriers and expands American foreign trade; The supporting measures are mainly "Telecommunication 30 1 Clause" aimed at market obstacles in telecommunication trade and "Foreign Government Procurement Measures" aimed at discriminatory and unfair practices of foreign government agencies in foreign procurement. The "30 1 clause" legal system is actually a means for Americans to promote their market system by virtue of their market power status and trade policy. Its core is to use the American market as a sharp weapon to force other countries to accept American international trade norms. According to "Article 30 1", goods from other countries or regions must open their markets on the same terms when entering the American market. Once the United States believes that opening up the trade policies of countries and regions is not in line with the interests and standards of the United States, the United States can use the "30 1 clause" to impose sanctions. [1] Section 337 is named according to Section 337 of the US Customs and Excise Act 1930. Section 337 authorizes the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to investigate and punish unfair trade practices in imports on the premise that American enterprises sue. If it is found that "Article 337" is violated, ITC will issue an exclusion order, instructing the US Customs to prohibit the import of this batch of products. As a result, the related products of a specific enterprise or even the related products of the whole industry cannot enter the American market. Article 337 divides unfair trade practices in imports into general unfair trade practices and unfair trade practices related to intellectual property rights, but almost all cases of "337 investigation" involve intellectual property rights.
In the history of Sino-US trade, the United States has launched special investigations on China on many occasions according to Clause 30 1 and Clause 337. Clause 30 1 is mainly aimed at the trade sanctions of countries and regions, while clause 337 is a sanctions system for the trade behavior of enterprises. On February 29th, 1986, 1986, the United States launched a 337 investigation on fur coats and fur products originating in China, South Korea and Greece, which was the first 337 investigation involving China initiated by the United States. By the end of 2008, there were 90 337 investigations involving China initiated by the United States, accounting for 20% of the total number of 337 investigations (430) after 1986. 9%。 According to the statistics of relevant departments, by 2009, there were more than 65,438,000 kinds of goods in China that suffered from American technical barriers. 20 10 on April 30th, the United States "20 10 special investigation report 30 1" included China in the blacklist of intellectual property rights. 20 12 On February 22nd, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) launched a 337 investigation on three types of products to determine whether there was patent infringement, and dozens of enterprises, including China, were involved. As of September 30th, 20 1 1 fiscal year, the United States * * * launched 70 337 investigations, with a year-on-year increase of 37%. [2]
2. Multinational corporations are playing an increasingly important role in intellectual property competition.
At present, multinational corporations occupy most of the core intellectual property resources in the global intellectual property field. After applying for a patent right in one country, most multinational companies often move their patents to other countries or regions for industrialization, or "internalize" their patents and use them within their own companies. More than 80% or even 90% of patents in high-tech and cutting-edge technical fields such as computer, medicine, biology, communication and semiconductor are occupied and controlled by multinational companies. Taking the China market as an example, in order to effectively control the China market for a long time, multinational companies generally regard intellectual property rights as an important means to develop and monopolize the market, besieging and suppressing domestic enterprises in China. Multinational companies apply for patents before investing in the host country, and control the market by virtue of technological and patent advantages. For example, DuPont Company of the United States began to apply for patents in China on a large scale as early as 1990, and then began to invest in China. By 1997, DuPont had established nine branches in China, more than half of which were established after 1996. According to the statistics of China National Intellectual Property Administration, since 1990s, the patent applications of multinational companies in China have increased at an average annual rate of 30%. 1998, foreign countries obtained 7 14 1 patents in China, which rose to 32,638 in 2003, an increase of 4.6 times in six years. In the same period, the number of patents granted in China increased from 6 1378 to 149588, which only increased by 2.5 times. [3] In recent years, the intellectual property innovation achievements of domestic enterprises have developed rapidly. According to the latest statistics of China National Intellectual Property Administration, in 20 1 1 year, the number of three types of patent applications accepted by China was16.33 million, up 33.6% year-on-year. Among them, there were 526,000 applications for invention patents, a year-on-year increase of 34.5%, 585,000 applications for utility model patents and 522,000 applications for design patents; The number of three types of patents granted was * * * 96 1 10,000, up by 17.9% year-on-year, of which the number of invention patents granted was172,000, up by 27.4% year-on-year. But at the same time, we should also see that the quality of patent applications in China is not high, and there is still a big gap between international PCT applications and developed countries such as the United States and Japan. According to the latest statistics of 20 1 1 patent applications issued by the European Bureau, there are 46,934 in Japan, 6 in China and 53 in/kloc-0. The share of European patent applications is 24% in the United States, 0/9% in Japan/KLOC and 7% in China. [4] China enterprises' international PCT patent applications are mainly concentrated in a few enterprises such as Huawei, ZTE and Datang. Take 20 10 as an example. There are 28% PCT applications 12337 in China, including 863 in ZTE/kloc-0 and 528 in Huawei/kloc-0. [5] Due to the lack of technical reserves, China enterprises are in a passive position in the market competition with foreign multinational companies.