The Institute for Law and Technology (ILT) conference on patents in China will start today (January 19-20) in San Francisco, see here. According to the ILT there are still US patent attorneys that counsel against seeking patent protection in China and “waisting your money”.
It wrote that only one US company (standing next to its Chinese, Japanese, Korean and European peers) ranks among the top 10 patent filers. Which one? IP Dragon doesn’t know yet. Please let me know.
A case in point of the value of Chinese patents for foreign companies is the story about SigmaTel. Read the article Kirk Ladendorf wrote for the American-Statesman here.
Ok, but what if you got yourself Chinese patents, is your company safe? One of the speakers on the conference is Marjory Searing, vice president Public Affairs of Pfizer Inc., the pharmaceutical company that found out that their Chinese patent was invalidated by the SIPO’s Patent Re-examination Board, read here. J. Benjamin Bai of Jones Day wrote an interesting piece about the process of invalidation and the criteria the Patent Re-examination Board is using, read here.
