In July 2016, the State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C (SIPO) released The 2015 Report on Patent Survey in China, which was the first time that the SIPO released a report on national patent survey. Statistics on Patent Enforcement Measures and Infringement are shown as follows.
(Table 1) Enforcement Measures Taken by Patent Owners (%)
|
Measure |
Company |
University |
Scientific Research Institute |
Individual |
General |
|
Complaint before Administrative authority |
11.5 |
30.3 |
5.6 |
16.9 |
13.8 |
|
lawsuit before Court |
16.5 |
3.8 |
16.8 |
8.8 |
13.2 |
|
Both Complaint and lawsuit |
11.2 |
35.0 |
7.6 |
3.9 |
8.0 |
|
No actions |
32.9 |
15.7 |
35.3 |
45.1 |
38.2 |
|
Warning Letter requesting stop of infringement |
27.8 |
15.2 |
34.6 |
25.3 |
26.8 |
(Note: Effective number of respondents: 2036 companies, 60 universities, 83 scientific research institutions, and 98 individuals, 2277 in total.)
38.2% of the patent owners do not take any actions when facing patent infringements. Among the no-action patent owners, 15.7% are universities, obviously lower than other three patentees (over 30.0%).
It’s worth noticing that scientific research institutions, companies, and individuals prefer to send “warning letter”, accounting for respectively 34.6%, 27.8% and 25.3%; Universities prefer to “both Compliant and lawsuit” and “complaint before administrative authority, both over 30%.
(Table 2) Protection Measures Patent Owners hope to take (%)
|
Measure |
Company |
University |
Scientific Research Institute |
Individual |
General |
|
Complaint before Patent Authority, for example, through hotline12330 |
44.6 |
48.8 |
40.3 |
46.6 |
45.7 |
|
Lawsuit directly before court |
23 |
23.9 |
21.5 |
25.3 |
24.3 |
|
Initiative enforcement of Patent management Authority |
62.8 |
57.1 |
58.4 |
58.6 |
60.4 |
|
Not Mind |
1.9 |
0.8 |
2.3 |
3.7 |
2.9 |
|
Negotiation |
29.2 |
37.3 |
34.8 |
23.6 |
26.2 |
|
Others |
0.2 |
0.1 |
1.9 |
0 |
0.1 |
|
Total |
161.8 |
168 |
159.3 |
157.8 |
159.6 |
(Note: Effective number of respondents: 7460 companies, 437 universities, 456 scientific research institutions, and 543 individuals, 8896 in total. Total percentage exceeds 100% as the questionnaire is a multiple-choice one.)
As to the question “which measure do they want most to take? The answer is not obvious different among different types of patent owners. In general, 60.4% of patent owners hope the administrative authority to take initiative actions against infringement, while 45.7% of patent owners want to file complaints before the administrative authorities.
(Table 3) Which infringement caused most damages (%)?
|
Type |
Company |
University |
Scientific Research Institute |
|
Trade secret |
42.2 |
3 |
27.2 |
|
Trademark |
13.3 |
7.2 |
1.7 |
|
Patent |
31.4 |
52.4 |
37.3 |
|
Copyright (book, software, movie & television works, etc.) |
0.8 |
13.6 |
5 |
|
Other IP rights (integrated circuit, new variety of plant, etc.) |
1.6 |
5.6 |
7.2 |
|
Not big differences |
10.8 |
18.1 |
21.6 |
(Note: Effective number of respondents: 7468 companies, 438 universities and 459 scientific research institutions.)
Companies suffered most on trade secrets infringements. For universities, the damages on patent represented over 50%, damages on copyright ranked the second. For scientific research institutions, infringements on patent and trademark secrets caused the most damages, and the former represented 37.3% of the damages.
Source: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/tjxx/yjcg/201607/t20160701_1277842.html
