Although the smoke of the World Cup battlefield has receded, the topic of "Made in China" caused by it still lingers. Although China men's soccer team missed this World Cup, "Made in China" was not absent. China elements are everywhere, from football "Celebrating the World Cup" and fans' dedicated speaker "vuvuzela" to mobile phone chains, key chains, national flags, glow sticks, hats, sunglasses and binoculars. But ... most of these "Made in China" can't make people "proud". 90% of the world-famous trumpet vuvuzela is produced in China, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, and its retail price in the World Cup is 30 times higher than the ex-factory price. However, it is this gadget that can make a deafening sound in the World Cup and even shock the whole world, but its factory profit is less than 5‰, and it is a "singing Zula", which shines brilliantly in South Africa and abroad. We can't help but ask, how many fans' products are made in China in the World Cup? Who made the huge profits? Where will "Made in China" go after the World Cup?
Second, "Made in China" analysis of the status quo
"Made in China" is not a new word, but what exactly is "Made in China"? I looked up the definition of "Made inChina" on the Internet, and the results are as follows: English translation is made in China, which generally refers to the origin labels used for goods manufactured in China people and mainland areas (excluding Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan Province Province), and people usually call it "made in China".
Join the WTO. For intellectual property protection in China, it is a landmark stage, and an increasingly strict intellectual property protection system has been established and improved. However, after practicing such "rules of the game" in international business, the sequela of "Made in China" lacking independent innovation in the past began to appear. On the way out of the country, China enterprises encountered intellectual property barriers set by many foreign enterprises.
Take the mobile phone manufacturing industry in China as an example: In 2006, Nokia sued Shenzhen Tianshida Company and claimed 500,000 yuan. Nokia claims that it has obtained and legally owned three design patents of mobile phone, mobile phone front cover and mobile phone back cover in China, but the A3 17 mobile phone produced and sold by Tianshida Company used Nokia's design patents without its permission. Tianshida firmly believed that there was no infringement at that time, because Tianshida always adhered to the concept of independent research and development and independent innovation in product launch, and all product research and development, production and manufacturing strictly abided by national laws and regulations. This sensational case, which is called "the first case of mobile phone appearance infringement in China" by the legal profession, has been hotly debated in court, and the debate outside the court is obviously more intense. The reason why Nokia chose to file a lawsuit against Timer has not only stayed at the technical level, but even risen to the height of confrontation between national brands and foreign brands. Many people think that Nokia's behavior is just that foreign brands want to gain more profits in the China market, and use the "patent invalidation" to further squeeze the living space of domestic mobile phones and crack down on national brands. However, in the face of the lawsuit of the world's mobile phone giants, the person in charge of Tianshida Company could not help but express his helplessness as a domestic mobile phone company. "Now domestic enterprises have to face the patent barriers of many well-known foreign companies when producing and selling. After all, people have been doing it for so many years, and their experience and technology are leading. "
The above cases are not uncommon. According to the foreign trade situation of China released by the General Administration of Customs, after China joined the WTO. The number of infringement cases seized by China Customs increases by about 30% every year. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Commerce, at present, less than 20% of all kinds of import and export enterprises in China have their own trademarks, and the export of national independent brands accounts for less than 10% of the total export. Take the textile industry as an example. China is a big exporter of textiles, but 50% of the garments are processed with imported materials, and more than 30% are provided with trademarks, styles and patterns by importers, and processed according to drawings and samples. Only about 10% is an independent brand.
This can be seen. Although China is a big manufacturing country in the world, domestic brand cultivation is still in its infancy, and there are few independent brands. The export profit is low and it is at a disadvantage in the international market. Compared with international brands, China's manufacturing industry has a huge gap. Take Nike as an example. In the international sporting goods marketing market, Nike has always been sought after by young people from all over the world, but in fact 1'4IKE has never produced a product by itself. They are engaged in brand concept.
Lang Chengping, an economist, once analyzed that China, as a factory in the world, often creates profits for most design countries at the cheapest labor cost. As a matter of fact, people familiar with China's processing trade know that many countries attach great importance to intellectual property protection, with high technology content and many patents, which leads to China being in a passive position in international trade, paying high patent royalties every year, and making little profits on behalf of others. China is the most populous country in the world, but its abundant labor resources have not been transformed into intellectual resources. China is also a big manufacturing country in the world, with the output of nearly 200 products ranking first in the world, but its industrial advantages are not obvious. Compared with developed countries, the comparative advantage of China industry lies in cheap labor, and the biggest gap lies in the lack of innovation ability, which is reflected in the lack of core technology patents and internationally renowned brands. Although the number of patent applications in China ranks first in the world, there are only a few thousand domestic enterprises with independent intellectual property rights, accounting for only about three ten thousandths, while some foreign multinational companies currently have tens of thousands of valid patents.
Moreover, the proportion of invention patents that can best reflect technological innovation in China is very low, most of which are peripheral patents or improved patents, and there are too few basic patents, which leads Chinese enterprises to pay high license fees to foreign enterprises every year. The same is true of trademarks in China. Although the number of registered trademarks in China keeps rising, there are few independent international well-known trademarks owned by China enterprises.
Because the intellectual property system in China has been established for a short time, there are problems in both the intellectual property system itself and its application ability. Especially for enterprises, there is still a big gap between Chinese enterprises and those in developed countries in the formulation, implementation and control of intellectual property strategy, which makes Chinese enterprises face a very severe test in international economic competition.
In the case of being unable to profit from intangible assets such as intellectual property rights. The profits of most enterprises in China come from the cost of squeezing labor, and 1 person working in a high-pressure environment is often the cause of labor disputes. Honda strike and Foxconn jumping off a building are the best examples. However, China's export products often rely on state financial subsidies, and its independent innovation ability is relatively poor. This has left an excuse for anti-dumping and countervailing in western countries.
As experts from the national patent agency said, "China manufacturing needs to change to China urgently, and only in this way can China really go out."
Third, the intellectual property protection of "Made in China"
1. Strengthen the awareness of intellectual property protection. The globalization of the world economy, the arrival of the era of knowledge economy, the fierce competition of international resources and markets, the general improvement of international intellectual property awareness, and the comprehensive replacement of tariff barriers by technical barriers to trade all pose more severe challenges to "Made in China". "Made in China" faces completely different international environment, times background and legal environment.
In the era of economic globalization and knowledge economy, international intellectual property competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Intellectual property rights have become the main weapon and core competitiveness of multinational enterprises in the international market.
Almost every multinational company has tens of thousands of patents, tens of thousands of registered trademarks and a large number of other forms of intellectual property rights in different countries and regions in the world. On the other hand, "Made in China", China's related enterprises and organizations still lack sufficient intellectual property awareness and ability, as well as necessary intellectual property management institutions, talents and resource reserves, so they are in a very passive position. For "Made in China". Intellectual property protection can't stay at the stage of "literacy". It is urgent to comprehensively improve the ability of "Made in China" to create, manage, implement and protect intellectual property rights.
2. Complete the transformation from "Made in China" to "Created in China".
(1) Step by step. Paying attention to enterprise patent technology: the second innovation. The choice of independent innovation path of "Made in China" should first fully consider the country's economic strength and scientific research strength, step by step, not overnight. Generally speaking, there are three ways of independent innovation, among which the original innovation is the most difficult, risky and lasting. Second, integrated innovation; Finally, the innovation of digestion and absorption is introduced. China should focus its strategy on introduction, digestion, absorption, re-innovation and integrated innovation, so that the risk is relatively small and the effect is quick. At this point, China enterprises should fully learn from the relevant experience of Japanese enterprises, invest enough money to digest and absorb the imported advanced technology, and fully learn from foreign advanced technology. Create more advanced innovative technologies, so as to reach the leading level in the industry, and make secondary innovative technologies become the independent intellectual property rights of enterprises.
(2) Division of labor and cooperation to create a set of fiscal, taxation, finance, talent and legal systems to support enterprise innovation.
As far as the government is concerned, it is necessary to create a better industrial environment, so that technology can smoothly cross the application barriers and smoothly connect with the industry; It is necessary to guide enterprises to scientifically choose strategic emerging industries; Encourage enterprises to do some long-term things through preferential policies and project subsidies.
On the one hand, the government should introduce a series of preferential policies to encourage the export of high-tech products with independent brands and independent intellectual property rights, improve the technology property rights trading market, build a platform for displaying and trading independent innovation achievements, and actively promote independent innovation products to the international market; On the other hand, it is more necessary for enterprises to strengthen the research and development and promotion of independent intellectual property products and participate in or lead the formulation of international standards for products; Meanwhile. Cooperate with foreign enterprises in various forms.
3. Have the courage to "show the sword" to intellectual property barriers. Those world-renowned multinational companies have repeatedly pointed their patents at China enterprises, which shows that "Made in China" really lacks independent intellectual property rights, and on the other hand, "Made in China" poses a huge market threat to foreign enterprises. But ... in the face of intellectual property litigation, the most important thing for "Made in China" is not the litigation result, but how to occupy the market is the key. Losing the case but winning the market should be an effective way for China enterprises to deal with intellectual property barriers. Enterprises in China must take it seriously, take precautions when introducing intellectual property rights, and actively respond to disputes after they occur.
Four. Concluding remarks
Reality tells us that "Made in China" can only be at the low end of the world industrial chain due to the lack of independent intellectual property rights and brands. Working for others with their own coolies not only consumes our limited energy resources, but also pollutes our environment to some extent. Workers work hard, and some even pay the price of health, but in the end they get only the thinnest part of the value chain. Of course, we are also glad to see that some China enterprises with independent technologies and brands set an example for "Made in China" in the World Cup, but their thin bodies and lonely figures reflected by large foreign companies always remind us that it is a long way to go to turn "Made in China" into "Created in China", but we must start at once and work around the clock.