Patent Alliance: an important strategy to improve the competitiveness of Chinese Enterprises

China's economy after 20 years of rapid growth, many basic factors to support the growth of substantial changes have taken place in recent years, such as labor, land and other factors of production costs, energy, resources and environmental constraints increase significantly, and so on. How to improve the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises has become an urgent practical problem. With Comrade Hu Jintao as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee put forward Scientific Outlook on Development requirements, change the mode of economic growth, the party in the fifth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee to enhance the ability of independent innovation as a national development strategy, a prominent position in economic and social development, to reshape our country enterprise comparative advantage, pointed out a new direction to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises in china. However, the independent innovation is a long-term strategy, the implementation of the process requires the support of specific measures. Patent alliance, as an enterprise competitive strategy, can effectively improve the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises.

, a patent alliance has multiple value to the enterprise

Patent alliance between enterprises based on common strategic interests, to a group of related patent technology as a link to the alliance, the alliance of the enterprises to achieve cross licensing of patents, or mutual preferential use each other's patented technology, the Union issued a joint statement a common external. The emergence of Patent Alliance marks an important change in the field of patent competition, that is, the shift from a single patent to competitive strategy. From the perspective of the nature of competition, patent alliance can be either offensive or defensive. Patent alliance, as a form of enterprise organization, can change the competitive situation of the industry in a short time by a certain combination of patents, which can bring multiple value to the enterprise.

Amplifies the diffusion effect of enterprise patent technology. Many companies are not aware of the diffusion effect of patent can bring huge benefits to the enterprise, many companies started to get involved in patent licensing transactions only under financial distress upset, such as the American TI company is facing bankruptcy in the middle of the 1980s began in patent licensing transactions, the current annual license fee income amounted to $800 million. Patent protection, on the one hand, can prevent the loss of technology spillover benefits, on the other hand, if the protection will affect the proliferation of this technology will be too easy to give an opportunity to competitors. In some high-tech fields, the diffusion effect of patent technology can even determine the fate of the technology itself. For example, the dispute between TCP/IP and NetBeui network protocol, Ethernet and TokenRing network, IBM developed by Netbeui and TokenRing are all defeated. The reason is mainly TCP/IP and Ethernet open early, the diffusion effect is very strong, has been a step ahead of the industry has become the accepted standard, while IBM Netbeui and TokenRing but was not because of backward technology, intellectual property protection and lost heavily, become the mainstream technology of the machine will eventually be eliminated by the market. Patent alliance between through the internal enterprise patent cross licensing, the external enterprise license patent protection technology, excessive weakness make up to a certain extent, enlarge the diffusion effect of enterprise patent technology, innovation, conducive to the promotion of new technologies and application.

Patented technology to achieve the synergies between. Due to the limited resources of a single enterprise, it is difficult to obtain the absolute advantage in the industrial technology, and through the patent alliance can enable enterprises to obtain all aspects of support, the formation of a stronger technical strength. As in the early days of the competition PC computer market, Apple Corp rely on technical superiority, refused to cooperate with other manufacturers, Microsoft, IBM and Intel through effective cooperation, division of labor, was a huge advantage in software and hardware, the IBM production of computer has been faster upgrading performance beyond Apple Corp the product, and eventually become a mainstream product. Therefore, whether an enterprise has much technical strength, can not also have core technology and control of the whole industry, but cooperation with relevant enterprises or research institutions to establish a relatively complete system of technical standards in the industry. After the establishment of the patent alliance between enterprises, through coordination and complementarity can make the members of the alliance to obtain the technology they need. For example, although Motorola has a relatively small number of GSM standard patents, but by joining the GSM alliance, technology sharing, so that they have access to a large number of patent rights.

Formed a new form of business cooperation and competition. Patent alliance is a new form of cooperation and competition, it can effectively reduce the risk and cost of enterprises, such as make up for the lack of capital, technology, talent, and jointly develop the potential market, etc.. If you want to become the industry standard of patent alliance development, then from technology development to marketing, not only requires a lot of funds and related technical personnel, companies need a strong influence on the market, this process is not only a huge cost, but also take great risk. Joining the patent alliance, although the relative reduction in earnings, but greatly dispersed the risk of the enterprise. The development of modern science and technology change rapidly, technology updates faster and faster, "fast fish eats the slow" time has come. In order to seize the favorable market position as soon as possible, many companies have to do everything possible to shorten the development cycle of new products and new technologies, and sometimes even competitors can form a patent alliance.

Brought enterprise huge commercial interests. To realize the binding of technology and standards, to take the technology patent, patent standardization, standard monopoly