12.12.17
No, China Isn’t Most Innovative, It’s Just Granting a Lot of Low-Quality Patents
Strategic move from Xi, even if a short-sighted and misguided one (attracts trolls)
From “sewed in China” to “sued in China”
Summary: Patent extremists are trying to make China look like a role model or a success story because China grants far too many patents, spurring an explosion in litigation
Patents and innovation are not the same thing. Everybody knows that, especially patent examiners (not officials). At IAM, the patent trolls’ lobby, facts don’t matter. Earlier today it published the headline “US innovation rates could quadruple if women, low-earners and minorities effectively targeted, research finds” (a questionable headline in its own right). So I opened the source paper and the said study does not correspond/agree with IAM’s claims. They should know that patents and innovation are not the same thing and hypothetical assertions aren’t facts (and the paper mentions patents, which correlate/relate to wealth, not innovation). But leaving that aside for a moment (it’s a new IAM writer, they lost a lot of staff lately), let’s consider the other blog post IAM published today. Composed by a more senior writer who advocates patent chaos in China, the post admits that patent “infringement cases in China are skyrocketing,” including many from patent trolls (like those IAM cheers for).
Is this actually a good thing? Self harm, destruction, legal battles and tax in the form of legal bills come to mind. It’s like the United States a decade ago. Before it sobered up and regained some sanity.
“Self harm, destruction, legal battles and tax in the form of legal bills come to mind.”Looking at Watchtroll, another patent extremist, earlier today it published a post titled “WIPO Stats on Patent Application Filings Shows China Continuing to Lead the World” (leading in what? Feuds?).
As we said a week ago, this WIPO data actually shows China granting rubbish patents. That’s over-patenting. WIPO does not weigh these numbers based on quality and SIPO alone received over a million patent applications last year (for the sake of comparison, the US has about 10 million patents since inception a very, very long time ago).
Intellectual dishonesty, in the name of profit, runs deep in the patent microcosm. They try to use “China!” to shame Western countries into a regime of patent maximalism, wherein just about everything that exists (even nature itself) gets patented. Yes, the EPO actually grants patents on life. It would be material of comedy if it wasn’t so real!
“When too many patents get granted nobody is happy except lawyers and attorneys.”Earlier today Managing IP (slightly more moderate than IAM) published this paywalled article wherein “Guanyang Yao and Qi Hu discuss recent cases, issues and developments in patent damages awards in China…”
It’s all about litigation. When I was younger China was renowned for manufacturing and stigmatised as a ripoff artist. Does China wish to become stigmatised as a troll instead? The sad thing is, Xi’s vision for China when it comes to patents is disturbingly short-sighted and it failed to heed the warning from the United States. When too many patents get granted nobody is happy except lawyers and attorneys. They don’t produce anything. They add virtually nothing to GDP. They’re a tax. █
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