China's biotechnology is developing rapidly and innovation is active, and the number of patent applications and authorizations is increasing year by year. Among all the high-tech fields, biotechnology is one of the most promising areas for China to achieve leapfrog development. Biotechnology has been listed as the strategic focus of scientific and technological development in the next 15 years in the Outline of National Medium-and Long-term Scientific and Technological Development Plan. Based on the above situation, this paper analyzes the patent situation of biotechnology inventions from the aspects of application authorization, region, country, applicant type and effective patent, and reflects the development of biotechnology in China from many angles.
I. Overview of application and authorization of biotechnology invention patents in recent years
From 2002 to 2005, China National Intellectual Property Administration accepted/kloc-0 patent applications for biotechnology inventions, with an average annual growth rate of 23.0%, of which domestic invention patent applications increased by 29.0% and foreign invention patent applications increased by 1 5.1%. In 2006, it is estimated that China National Intellectual Property Administration accepted 6,300 patent applications for biotechnology inventions. In 2006, China National Intellectual Property Administration * * * granted 2,072 biotechnological invention patents, of which 1.366 were granted in China, which was about 9 times that of 2002 (1.56), with an average annual increase of 72.0%. 706 foreign patents were granted, about four times as much as in 2002 (165), with an average annual increase of 43.8%. (see figure 1)
Figure 1 Application and authorization of biotechnology invention patents in recent years
Since 2000, the number of domestic applications for biotechnology invention patents has always exceeded that of foreign applications, accounting for about 60% to 70% in China. Since 2003, the number of biotechnological invention patents granted by China has surpassed that granted by foreign countries, and the domestic share reached 66% in 2006 (see Figure 2).
Fig. 2 Proportion of domestic biotechnology invention patent applications and authorizations in recent years.
By the end of June, 2006, China National Intellectual Property Administration had accepted about 37,300 patent applications for biotechnology inventions, accounting for 3.4% of the total number accepted. Among them, there are about 23,300 domestic applications, accounting for 62.5%; Foreign applications are about 14000, accounting for 37.5%. As of June 65438+February 3, 20061,China National Intellectual Property Administration has granted 801biotechnology invention patents, accounting for 2.7% of the total authorized amount. Among them, there are 4606 domestic patents, accounting for 57.5%; 3405 foreign patents, accounting for 42.5%.
(a) The distribution of foreign patent applications and authorizations for biotechnological inventions in various countries.
As of12,2006,31,among the foreign patent applications for biotechnology inventions accepted by China National Intellectual Property Administration, the United States accounted for 35.2%, ranking first, followed by Japan (18.7%), Germany (8.2%), the United Kingdom (5.0%) and Switzerland (. The total number of applications from EU countries accounts for 29.9% of the foreign invention patent applications.
Figure 3 Distribution of countries to which foreign biotechnology invention patent applications belong
As of June 65438+February 3, 20061day, among the foreign biotechnology invention patents authorized by China National Intellectual Property Administration, the United States accounted for 30.8%, ranking first, followed by Japan (23.5%), Germany (7.2%), Switzerland (5.6%), the United Kingdom (4.7%) and South Korea (. The total amount authorized by EU countries accounts for 28.5% of foreign invention patents.
Figure 4 Distribution of Foreign Biotechnology Invention Patent Authorization Countries
The United States, the European Union and Japan account for 83.8% of the total number of foreign applications for biotechnology invention patents, and the amount of authorization accounts for 82.8% of the total number of foreign authorizations. In EU countries, more than 80% applications and authorizations for biotechnological inventions come from Germany, Britain, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
(two) the distribution of domestic biotechnology invention patent applications and authorizations.
As of February, 2006, among the domestic biotechnology invention patent applications accepted by China National Intellectual Property Administration, Shanghai (32.4%) and Beijing (17.4%) are far ahead of other regions. Guangdong (6.2%), Jiangsu (5.9%), Zhejiang (4.2%), Shandong (3.9%), Hubei (3.7%), Liaoning (3.0%), Tianjin (2.5%) and Sichuan (2.3%) (see Figure 5).
Figure 5 Distribution of domestic biotechnology invention patent applications in different regions
As of June 5438+February 3, 20061day, among the domestic biotechnology invention patents authorized by China National Intellectual Property Administration, Beijing accounted for 22.4%, ranking first, followed by Shanghai (15.7%), Jiangsu (7.8%), Guangdong (7.5%) and Hubei (5.5%).
Fig. 6 Regional distribution of biotechnology invention patents in China
The total number of applications in the above ten regions accounts for 78% of the total number of domestic applications, and the amount of authorization accounts for 8 1% of the total number of domestic authorizations.
(3) Type distribution of applicants for biotechnology invention patents
By the end of June, 2006, about 30% of the domestic applications for biotechnology invention patents accepted by China National Intellectual Property Administration came from enterprises, and nearly 50% came from universities and research institutions. However, in recent years, the proportion of enterprise applications has shown an obvious downward trend: in 200 1 year, enterprise applications accounted for nearly 40% of the total domestic applications, and in 2005 this proportion was less than 20%; However, the proportion of applications from universities and scientific research institutions is on the rise, accounting for more than 60% in 2005. Especially in colleges and universities, the proportion of applications has increased significantly in recent years: in 200 1 year, college applications accounted for 20% of the total domestic applications, and in 2005 this proportion was close to 40% (see Figure 7). The composition of foreign patent applicants for biotechnology inventions is relatively stable, with 80% from enterprises.
Distribution of types of domestic biotechnology invention patent applicants in recent years.
Table 1 is the top ten patentees of biotechnology invention patents in China as of February 3, 2006. The top ten patentees in China are universities and scientific research units, especially colleges and universities. Most of the top ten foreign patentees are enterprises.
Table 1 Top Ten Patentees of Biotechnology Invention Patents at Home and Abroad
(4) Distribution of technical fields of biotechnology research and development at home and abroad.
Each patent document will be classified according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) to illustrate the specific technical fields involved in the invention. By counting the distribution of IPC classification numbers of patent documents, we can find the hot spots of technology research and development and the technical fields where technology innovation is concentrated. Combined with the country, we can observe the application distribution at home and abroad in different technical fields and determine the degree of competition at home and abroad in specific technical fields. Table 2 lists the specific fields in which the number of patent applications and grants for biotechnology inventions at home and abroad ranked in the top ten as of February 3, 20061.
Table 2 Specific fields of the top ten biotechnology invention patent applications
The top ten applications for biotechnology invention patents in China are: peptides containing more than 20 amino acids (C07K 14)*, mutation or genetic engineering (C 12N 15), determination or inspection methods of enzymes or microorganisms (C 12Q 1 5). Peptide-containing pharmaceutical preparations (A6 1K 38) and chemical analysis of biological substances (G065438) The ten major fields of biotechnology application abroad are: mutation or genetic engineering, peptide-containing pharmaceutical preparations, determination or inspection methods of enzymes or microorganisms, peptides containing more than 20 amino acids, pharmaceutical preparations containing antigens or antibodies, chemical analysis of biological substances, enzymes, microorganisms and their components, undifferentiated people, and so on.
* The content in brackets is the IPC classification number of technical field, the same below.
(5) The number of pages in the patent specification for biotechnology invention and the claim number.
The American Enterprise Technology Review quoted Dudas, director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, as saying that with the development of technology, the complexity of patents is rising, which leads to more and more pages of instructions. According to the research of foreign scholars Tong and Frmae, the number of claims can better reflect the technological innovation ability, and the more the number of claims, the stronger the technological innovation ability. Taking the number of pages of patent documents (including drawings) and the number of claims as comparison items, we can reflect the quality gap of biotechnology invention patents at home and abroad to some extent.
Fig. 8 shows the changing trend of the average number of pages of patent specifications and the average number of claims for biotechnological inventions. Obviously, in the past eight years, the average number of pages of patent specifications and claims of biotechnological inventions at home and abroad has generally shown an upward trend, indicating that biotechnology is constantly developing and progressing, and the technical content of invention patents is getting higher and higher and more complicated. However, the domestic increase is smaller than that of foreign countries.
Fig. 8 The changing trend of the number of pages and claims in the patent specification of biotechnology invention.
(six) the status of effective invention patents of biotechnology
The term of protection of the invention patent right is twenty years. In fact, not all patents can be protected until the expiration of the term. Patents that can bring direct or indirect economic benefits are a necessary condition to remain effective. The longer a patent is maintained, it usually means that the longer it takes to create economic benefits, the higher its market value. The effective status of biotechnology invention patents can reflect the biotechnology innovation and market competitiveness of enterprises, regions and even countries.
As of June 5438+February 3, 20061,there were 650 effective invention patents in the field of biotechnology, of which 55% were domestic and 45% were foreign. The effective rate of foreign biotechnology patents is 85%, and the effective rate of domestic biotechnology patents reaches 78%. There are some differences in the patent efficiency of different types of patentees in China: domestic enterprises have the highest efficiency, reaching 86%, universities are 8 1%, and scientific research institutions are about 74% (see Figure 9).
Fig. 9 patent efficiency of biotechnology inventions of different types of patentees
Figure 10 shows the distribution of effective invention patents at home and abroad according to the filing date and time period, and its abscissa is the age from now (referring to the time span from the filing date to February 3, 20061day). Among the valid invention patents, 72% are maintained for less than 5 years (that is, the filing date is after 2002 1), while the proportion abroad is only15%; It has been maintained for more than 1 1 year (that is, the application date is before 1997 1), accounting for only 3% in China and 26% abroad; It has been maintained for 6 to 10 years, accounting for 25% in China and 59% abroad. The average service life of valid patents in China (referring to the time span from the effective patent application date to 65438+February 3, 20061) is 4.8 years, and that of foreign countries is 8.7 years.
Figure 10 Distribution of Effective Invention Patents in Biotechnology Field
Figure 1 1 shows the efficiency of biotechnology invention patents in different years from now. Obviously, with the increase of years from now, the efficiency of foreign countries has declined slightly, and it can still maintain about 50% efficiency from now. However, the decline in domestic efficiency is more obvious. The period of maintaining 50% efficiency is five years, and the period of maintaining more than 25% efficiency is only six years.
Figure 1 1 Patent Efficiency of Biotechnology Invention in Different Years
Second, the characteristics of biotechnology invention patent application and authorization
(1) The number of patent applications and authorizations for biotechnological inventions in China is dominant. With 15 listing biotechnology as the strategic focus of China's future scientific and technological development, the number of domestic biotechnology applications and authorizations has surpassed that of foreign countries in recent years, and the proportion of domestic applications and authorizations has continued to expand, indicating that the overall level of biotechnology research and development in China is increasing, the accumulation of innovative achievements with independent intellectual property rights is increasing, and the public's awareness of intellectual property rights is constantly strengthening.
(2) The application and authorization of biotechnology invention patents continued to grow rapidly.
In the past five years, the application and authorization of biotechnology invention patents at home and abroad have increased rapidly at a speed of more than double digits, among which the growth of domestic application is nearly 14 percentage points higher than that of foreign countries, and the growth of domestic authorization is nearly 30 percentage points higher than that of foreign countries, which shows that the biotechnology industry at home and abroad is developing rapidly, and China is catching up and showing a strong development momentum.
(c) The patent system plays an important role in promoting the development of biotechnology.
While the number of patent applications and authorizations for biotechnological inventions has increased rapidly, China's biotechnological industry has also maintained a rapid and stable development momentum. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Science and Technology said that the average annual growth rate of the added value of the bio-industry during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period exceeded 30%. The average annual growth rate of domestic invention patent applications of 29.0% is basically the same as the former, which shows that technological innovation and patent system have played an important role in promoting the development of bio-industry and enhancing the competitiveness of industrial market.
(D) Domestic and international biotechnology research and development hotspots are basically the same, and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. The number of applications in nine technical fields, such as peptides with more than 20 amino acids, mutation or genetic engineering, ranks in the top ten at home and abroad, and the number of applications in the top ten technical fields at home and abroad accounts for more than 80% of the total number of applications for biotechnology invention patents at home and abroad, indicating that the structure of biotechnology at home and abroad is similar and the research and development hotspots tend to be consistent. At the same time, it also shows that in order to seize the commanding heights of scientific and technological competition and strive for the market dominance and control of biotechnology, patent layout will continue to be vigorously implemented at home and abroad, and the competition around the control and anti-control, leading and anti-leading of biotechnology patents will become increasingly fierce.
Among the hot technical fields, the number of patent applications and patents granted abroad in peptide, pharmaceutical preparations containing antigens or antibodies and immunoglobulin is higher than that in China, and the number of patents granted abroad in mutation or genetic engineering and enzymes is also higher than that in China. However, the number of domestic patent applications and authorizations in six technical fields, including peptides, enzymes or microorganisms with more than 20 amino acids, microorganisms and their composition, genotype improvement methods, chemical analysis of biological substances, and undifferentiated human, animal or plant cells, all exceeded that of foreign countries, indicating that China has occupied a favorable position in some fields of biotechnology research and is constantly hitting the international frontier level.
(5) Universities and scientific research institutions have gradually become the main force in the application of biotechnology in China.
Different from the general environment in which enterprises have gradually become the main force in domestic invention patent applications, in recent years, the proportion of enterprises in domestic biotechnology invention patent applications has dropped from 40% to below 20%, while the proportion of universities has increased significantly. Nearly 40% of biotechnology patent applications are concentrated in colleges and universities, and more than 20% are in the hands of scientific research units. In addition, eight of the top ten domestic patentees of biotechnology invention patents are universities, and the other two are scientific research units. It shows that universities and scientific research units are more active in biotechnology research and development, while enterprises lack stamina for biotechnology innovation. This reflects that the industrialization level of biotechnology in China is not high at present, and universities and scientific research units should take the road of "Industry-University-Research" in research and development and strive to be rooted in commercial application; At the same time, enterprises should also make full use of the scientific research advantages of Chinese universities and scientific research units to enhance their competitiveness. Otherwise, there will be a phenomenon that the number of patent applications and authorizations of universities and scientific research units is higher than that of enterprises, but the patent efficiency is lower than that of enterprises, which leads to the difficulty of industrialization of laboratory scientific research results, or the high cost of industrialization or even no economic value, while enterprises lack innovative achievements and products. In the patent application of biotechnology invention abroad, because scientific research and commercial capital have found the intersection in the process of industrialization, enterprises occupy an absolute dominant position.
(6) There is still a gap in the quality of biotechnology invention patents at home and abroad.
1. The average number of pages of patent specifications at home and abroad and the average number of claims for biotechnological inventions have increased. Although the number of pages of patent specifications and claims of biotechnological inventions at home and abroad is generally on the rise, the growth rate in China is less than that in foreign countries. From 65438 to 0999, the average pages of foreign patent specifications were 3.6 times that of domestic ones, and the average pages of foreign patent claims were 3.2 times that of domestic ones. In 2006, it expanded to 3.8 times and 3.7 times respectively. That is to say, judging from the number of claims and the number of pages of instructions, nearly four domestic biotechnology invention patents are equivalent to a foreign patent, and the gap is very obvious. The preliminary results show that foreign biotechnological invention patents are more complex and high-tech than domestic ones.
2. The average duration of effective invention patents of biotechnology in China is not long, and the efficiency is low.
Among the effective invention patents of biotechnology, although the number in China is more than half, the average service life is nearly four years less than that of foreign countries, and the average efficiency is seven percentage points lower than that of foreign countries. With the increase of service life, the decline of domestic efficiency is obviously higher than that of foreign countries, which initially shows that domestic biotechnology invention patents are lower than foreign countries in both market value and economic benefits.
From the above analysis, we can see that domestic biotechnology has reached a certain level of R&D, domestic and international R&D hotspots tend to be consistent, domestic patents are dominant, and the competition around biotechnology at home and abroad will become increasingly fierce. Generally speaking, the domestic biotechnology patent situation is developing in a good direction. However, we should also be soberly aware that there are still the following problems in the development of domestic biotechnology: First, the current transformation is mainly quantitative transformation, not qualitative transformation. Although the number of invention patents in China is dominant, it is still at a disadvantage in patent quality indicators, which is not optimistic. It initially reflects that there is still a big gap between the domestic biotechnology level and the international biotechnology level, and there are not many core technologies with good domestic economic benefits and high added value. Second, Industry-University-Research's integration is not close, its development is unbalanced, and there is no technological innovation system with enterprises as the main body. Universities and scientific research institutions are the main applicants for biotechnological invention patents, but the patent growth potential of enterprises is insufficient, which is contrary to the general trend that enterprises gradually become the main body of independent innovation and the main force of domestic invention patent application, which seriously restricts the industrialization of patent technology, and the number advantage of patent application has not been transformed into market competitive advantage. "China Bio-industry Development Report 2006" also pointed out that a large number of bio-scientific and technological achievements in China have not been converted into products, and the national bio-pharmaceutical scientific and technological achievements conversion rate is only 0.5%. Therefore, in order to achieve the strategic goal of making China's biotechnology research, development and industrialization reach the level of advanced countries in the world by 2020, the current biotechnology and industrial development should be adjusted from focusing on technology accumulation to a new stage of paying equal attention to research, industrialization, creation and application.
Note: 1 The international patent classification number (IPC) related to biotechnology in this report adopts the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the report statistics are based on the main classification number of patents. OECD stipulates that the classification numbers of biotechnology are A01h100, A0 1H4/00 and A665430. A6 1K39/00，A6 1K48/00，C02F3/34，C07G( 1 13/00， 15/00)，C07K(4/00， 14/00， 16/00， 17/00，