Category Archives: Innovation Policy

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Confronting Chinese Innovation Mercantilism

Interest in and discussion about innovation practices in China continues.  Here’s another upcoming conference, which sounds like it could elicit controversy, from ITIF (the Information Technology and Innovation Forum): “Confronting Chinese Innovation Mercantilism“.  According to the press release “China is unabashedly seeking to favor Chinese-owned firms in order to dominate practically all sectors, especially the higher value-added, innovation-based sectors. Yet, the Washington consensus response can be summed up in one word: patience.”.

A separate stream of discussion in Washington has been on Chinese state-owned enterprises, which ITIF alludes to, including hearings yesterday on Capitol Hill on the role of SOE’s [State Owned Enterprises].  Prof. Curtis Milhaupt from Columbia has also written an excellent paper on this topic describing the organization of SOE’s, but without any strong proscriptive language. Prof. Milhaupt also lectured at Fordham on Feb. 16.

In the long run, there is only way forward on all these issues: informed, principled, and respectful engagement.  It isn’t a simple matter of patience as the ITIF study suggests.  Hopefully serious programs and reports will help us all pursue a reasonable way of engaging China.

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The Other Chinese Patent Development: China’s Autumnal Patent “Hook”

It is 2012, and China’s State Intellectual Property Office (“SIPO”) has once again released its end of the year data on patent filings for the year.  While patent data and scientific citation data suggest that China is on the cusp of becoming an innovative economy, there is another trend that has subsisted for several years:  China’s autumnal upward patent “hook.”

As I have remarked in several conferences during the past two to three years, the data suggests that if patents are a surrogate for innovation activity, one of the most significant factors in China’s innovation efforts are the time of the year:  China innovates in the fall.   February, however, appears to be a slow month for creativity, perhaps due to lack of external pressure (government subsidies, quotas), but also due to the hiatus caused by the lunar new year and the 28 day month. Continue reading →

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Brief recap of “Patents, Trade, and Innovation in China”

Attached is the speech by USPTO Director David Kappos from the joint Fordham/George Washington University conference on IP, innovation and trade issues in China on December 13.   USPTO Director Kappos was introduced by CAFC Chief Judge Rader, himself a veteran of Chinese-IP engagement.  The speech gives a good summary of hte current state of US IP engagement with China from the perspctive of USPTO including the important work of patent cooperation with SIPO which is handled by USPTO directly.
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China and Innovation: Should the West be Worried?

Welcome to my blog: ChinaIPR.    This domain has been revived after almost a decade in the dark. I hope the blog will be a meeting place for data-driven, informed discussions on IP issues in China.

This launch is timely.  While the weather has gotten colder, the innovation and IP issues appear to be as hot as ever. Continue reading →