Why do Chinese academics file so many patents?

A few weeks ago this Kat published her first report from the Global Forum on Intellectual Property. This report included a summary of Professor Williamson's (University of Oxford) presentation which showed a variety of pie charts, one of which that indicated that as much as 23% of patents applied for were from academic institutions in China, compared with only 7% in the US. This Kat, now fervently watching the academic patent debate with the Stanford v Roche patent battle now before the Supreme Court (reports here and here), asked whether readers could explain why there was such a higher per cent of academics filing patents in China. The IPKat called and her lovely readers answered in the form of Michael Lin of Marks & Clerk (Hong Kong). Writing from his personal opinion and not in his professional capacity, Michael says this:

"The reasons why you are seeing such a large increase in Chinese Patents filed by Academics is that for them 1) it's free and 2) they get academic credit for it. Filing patents is encouraged by the Chinese Government and Academia. The Chinese Government has given Universities (as well as local companies) funds for filing patents in order to spur innovation - one measure of which is the number of patents filed by China, as a country. Also, the Chinese Universities are ranked against each other according to how many patents they've filed. As a result, Chinese Universities have adjusted their tenure requirements and expectations such that professors who want to advance are virtually required to file patents as well as to publish papers. In one specific University I know of, filing a patent is "worth" 3 published papers. This practice has been around for at least 2.5 years. Thus you are seeing (proportionally) a very large number of Chinese Academics filing patent applications in China.

Notice all of this relates to filing patent applications - there is no discussion above about actually getting them granted, or any other such matters.

This is also a major factor as to why there is such an amazing increase in Chinese Patent filings (in the Chinese Patent Office) in 2008-10, while filings everywhere else in the world were dropping."

The reason for these incentives could be tri-fold. Economically the programs of incentives are part of China's 50-year technology plan which is confirmed by the National Patent Development Strategy released a few weeks ago (click here to see the English translation). Politically, being able to show an increasing number of patent filings to the rest of the world can be seen to legitimize China's dedication to IP and IP protection - an area which they are oft-criticized. The third reason is that socially, the Chinese Government realizes that it is essential to shift from a manufacturing economy to a research & development economy, which may help pacify rising dissent in the countryside. By increasing, or at least showing, an increasing level of innovation this may also instil in the Chinese public a sense of pride and nationalism (see, the Beijing Olympics).


What is missing from the data, and as the IPKat identified during Professor Williamson's speech is how many of these filings result in grants? Further, how many of those grants enter countries via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)? Do such numbers exist?

And what do UK and US academics think about a system where their academic standing can be judged by how many patents one files?

The IPKat would like to thank Michael for his e-mails and invaluable insight into an area that many of us on this side of the world seldom have an opportunity to explore.

Signs of recovery, says WIPO

The first green shoots of recovery have now been spotted, pushing their way up through the snowy mountain terrain of Geneva, according to today's media release from Geneva's main attraction, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). According to WIPO,

"A ... report analyzing ... trends in 2008 and 2009 shows that innovative activity and demand for IP rights dipped during the global economic crisis, but began to recover this year. World Intellectual Property Indicators 2010 also documents how the uncertainty associated with the crisis led companies to readjust their innovation strategies.

As the world economy started to slow sharply in 2008, an estimated 1.91 million patent, 3.3 million trademark, and 660,000 industrial design applications were filed across the world. Compared to 2007, these figures represent a slowdown in the growth of patent and industrial design applications and an actual decline in the number of trademark applications.

While the bulk of the report focuses on 2008 data (the last year for which complete worldwide statistics are available), a special section on the economic crisis looks at preliminary IP filing data for 2009 for the largest IP offices. These data reveal a drop in patent, trademark, and industrial design applications at many of these offices. In the majority of cases, non-resident applications were more negatively affected by the crisis than resident applications, suggesting a greater short-term focus on home markets ....

Beyond 2009, there are grounds for optimism as patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system and international trademark registrations filed under the Madrid system have returned to growth....

Data on R&D expenditure compiled for the report show that, on average, companies started to reduce their R&D budgets from early 2009 onward.

Data for publicly listed firms indicate a slowdown in year-on-year growth from 2007 to 2008, but reflect an actual decrease in R&D expenditure between 2008 and 2009 (-1.7%). However, the average hides substantial company-by-company variations (see Figure 1). Several of these companies reported substantial growth in R&D expenditure including a number of pharmaceutical firms.

Among these firms, the majority of automotive (e.g. General Motors, -24.5%, and Toyota, -19.8%), construction and consumer product companies (e.g. Caterpillar, -17.8%, and Unilever, -3.9%) decreased their R&D expenditure. A similar trend is observed for the majority of IT firms with a few exceptions, such as selected Chinese (ZTE, +45 %; and Huawei, +27 %) and US (Apple, +20%; and Microsoft, +10%) companies...."

The media release continues in like vein, replete with tables and diagrams.  All this sounds like good news for the IP community and good news for the world, unless you're in the automotive sector at any rate.