Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

China Becoming Intellectual Property Powerhouse

Posted by samzenpus on from the great-patent-wall dept.

eldavojohn writes "A lot of Westerners view China as little more than the world's factory manufacturing anything with little regard to patents, copyrights and trademarks. But it seems as far as patents go, China is moving on up. According to the WIPO, the company that applied for the most patents in 2008 was not an American or Japanese company but China's Huawei Technologies. And China has made astonishing ground recently moving up to third place with 203,257 patent applications behind Japan (500,000) and the United States (390,000). It remains to be seen if these patents applications will come to fruition for China but it is evident that they are focusing on a new image as a leader in research and development. The Korean article concentrates on 2008 but you can find 2009 statistics at the WIPO's report on China along with some statistics breaking down applications by industry."

4 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. I think we found step 2 by bersl2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    1. Disregard foreign patents
    2. Acquire patents for use against foreign firms
    3. PROFIT!

  2. This has already happened by Infonaut · · Score: 5, Informative

    The first time around, it was the United States that started as a stealer of inventions from other countries, then over time became far more interested in protecting intellectual rights. When your own industry isn't generating the ideas, you figure anyone's ideas are fair game; when your industry is coming up with new ideas, you want to protect your position.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  3. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by mattack2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You presumably mean they COULDN'T care less. Saying the exact opposite of what you mean is a bad way to (try to) communicate.

  4. Rampant Fraud in China by happyhamster · · Score: 3, Informative

    How many of those patents are legitimate, and not fraudulent of plagiarizing?

    "Rampant Fraud Threatens China's Brisk Ascent"
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/world/asia/07fraud.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

    One of the points the article highlights is that in Chinese culture, blatant cheating and shameless plagiarism is fine. It's just being "smart" to get ahead. Nice culture to force your hard-working population to compete with.