Ms Patti Waldmeir wrote a great article for the Financial Times about Chinese patents ‘The value of branding becomes patent’, read here.
On the positive side Ms Waldmeir noticed that China is the country where most companies are filing for patents in China. However, she noticed that most patents were utility patents (not really as inventive as invention patents and protected for 10 years instead of 20 years) the quality is substandard. She quoted mr Elliot Papageorgiou of Rouse & Co who said euphemistically that the enforcement of patent infringements has room for improvements.
“Legal experts in China say these figures reflect a concerted government campaign to persuade Chinese companies to protect their intellectual property by law: the elevated motorway that runs through Shanghai recently sported billboards extolling the virtues of IP protection and some Chinese companies get government subsidies to cover patent application costs, a factor that artificially inflates the number of filings.“
Read ms Waldmeir’s article here.
