Patents And Innovation In China And Hong Kong

The first book on how patents and innovation interact within the two co-existing patent systems in mainland China and Hong Kong.

The first book on how patents and innovation interact within the two co-existing patent systems in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

This open access book analyses intellectual property codification and innovation governance in the development of six key industries in India and China. These industries are reflective of the innovation and economic development of the two economies, or of vital importance to them: the IT Industry; the film industry; the pharmaceutical industry; plant varieties and food security; the automobile industry; and peer production and the sharing economy. The analysis extends beyond the domain of IP law, and includes economics and policy analysis. The overarching concern that cuts through all chapters is an inquiry into why certain industries have developed in one country and not in the other, including: the role that state innovation policy and/or IP policy played in such development; the nature of the state innovation policy/IP policy; and whether such policy has been causal, facilitating, crippling, co-relational, or simply irrelevant. The book asks what India and China can learn from each other, and whether there is any possibility of synergy. The book provides a real-life understanding of how IP laws interact with innovation and economic development in the six selected economic sectors in China and India. The reader can also draw lessons from the success or failure of these sectors.

This study’s statistical analysis shows that patent quality and innovation in China deserve improvement, and an in-depth legal, management science, and economic analysis in the study shows that various patent-related policies and practices actually hamper patent quality and innovation in China. Over 50 recommendations for reform are provided. The study is divided into four chapters, summaries of which are as follows: Although China became the world leader in quantity of domestically filed patent applications in 2011, the quality of these patents needs improvement. Also, while certain innovation in China is rising, the country’s actual innovation appears over-hyped by some sources. There appears to be an overly heavy focus on government-set quantitative patent targets in China, which can hamper patent quality and innovation. This overemphasis involves over 10 national-level and over 150 municipal/provincial quantitative patent targets, mostly to be met by 2015, which are also linked to performance evaluations for SoEs, Party officials and government ministries, universities and research institutes, and other entities. China has a wide-range of other policies, many of which are at least partially meant to encourage patents, that can actually discourage quality patents, and highest-quality patents in particular, and innovation. Examples of these policies include a variety of measures with requirements for “indigenous intellectual property rights” that are linked to financial incentives (many of which are unrelated to government procurement); a range of other government-provided financial incentives for patent development (e.g. certain patent filing subsidies); inappropriate inventor remuneration rules; discriminatory standardization approaches; and a wide range of others. There are a host of concerns surrounding rules and procedures for patent application review and those for enforcement of patent disputes that can hamper building of quality patents and innovation in China. These include concerns about abuse of patent rights, difficulties invalidating utility models, and a wide range of other issues.

"Last chapter of this book compares Hong Kong and Singapore in building their OGP systems (called "positive grant patent", system in Singapore). Yu argues that, although Singapore's new system has strengthened its credential as an IP hub, created more job opportunities for IP professionals, and extended its impact to ASEAN countries, the success has not been translated into the increase in the patent numbers, particularly from local residents. He argues that, by substantially outsourcing patent examination to the SIPO, Hong Kong may not be able "to reap the benefits from such local capability," and that "while Singapore's new patent search and examination (S&E) capability has won it some plaudits, it is too early to assess its full impact on the country's overall IP ecosystem in terms of new job creation, additional numbers of patents, more patent filings by local entities, or other indicators of increased innovative activity"--

Following decades in which China's approach to technology has been to imitate, the country is now transforming itself to become innovation-oriented. This pioneering study examines whether patents play a similar role in promoting innovation in China as they do in the West, exploring the interplay between patents and China's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in particular.

This book evaluates the risks that China’s intellectual property (IP) regime poses to innovation. China's IP regime has been heavily criticized as potentially stifling innovation. However, the country’s innovation capabilities have risen significantly and major reforms have recently been made to its IP regime. How risky, really, is China's IP regime for innovation? This book investigates this question at different units of analysis based on a multidisciplinary assessment involving law, management, economics, and political science. Specifically, it critically appraises China's substantive IP laws, measures for boosting patent quantity and quality, measures for transmitting and exploiting technological knowledge, new experimental IP measures, and China's systems for administering and enforcing IP. Practitioners and scholars from various backgrounds can benefit from the up-to-date analysis as well as the practical managerial tools provided, including risk assessment matrices for businesses and recommendations for institutional reform.

China is dramatically catching up and is rapidly becoming a leading technological innovator on the global scale. The number of Chinese firms with global ambitions is growing fast, more and more technological innovation is coming from China, and the number of patents in China is also growing steadily. The negative side of this development is the still insufficient protection of intellectual property in China. The phenomenon of counterfeits originating from China has increased constantly over the past two decades. Moreover, within the past ten years the scale of intellectual property theft has risen exponentially in terms of its sophistication, volume, the range of goods, and the countries affected. This book addresses managers dealing with innovation in China, and offers concrete advice on how Western firms can benefit from these innovations. Among others, it provides examples and checklists to help decision-makers active in China.​