Not only are Chinese companies getting more aggressive about filing patents, they are also aggressively prosecuting alleged patent and trademark infringements. The mainland arm of a Taiwanese-based firm wrenched $60 million out of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) earlier this year over a trademark dispute on the iPad name.
In another infringement case, a Chinese firm has sued Apple over the Siri voice recognition program, claiming that the technology violates a patent the company received in 2004. Actions of the kind against Apple are rare, with most of the battles being fought between domestic Chinese firms.
As a new report from the European Union Chamber of Commerce notes, China’s ability to innovate is critical to the country’s ability to continue its dramatic economic growth. Low-cost manufacturing is moving elsewhere in Asia, and China, now a major force in the global economy, needs to become more of an innovator and less of a copycat.
The quality of the Chinese patents is also dubious:
[P]rojections in [the EU’s Chamber of Commerce] study indicate there might be over 2.6 million less-than-“highest-quality” patents filed in China in 2015 alone, which is substantially more than estimated “highest-quality” patents filings in that year.
The full EU study is available here.
Paul Ausick
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