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中国专利代理行业两年目睹之怪现状
作者:许勇&&
来源:盘古知识产权沙龙&&
点击数:1&&
[摘要] 近半年来，苹果与三星之间的专利大战可能是业界最令人瞩目的事件，其中尤以8月24日美国加州法院裁定三星向苹果支付超过10亿美元赔款时达到顶峰。窥一斑而知全豹，这一判例的天价赔偿额足以说明专利制度作为社会经济的调节工具在国外的普及认可程度。而就在欧美专利大战开展得如火如荼的时候，国内专利面临的一个问题却是：为什么中国的专利不值钱？
近半年来，苹果与三星之间的专利大战可能是业界最令人瞩目的事件，其中尤以8月24日美国加州法院裁定三星向苹果支付超过10亿美元赔款时达到顶峰。窥一斑而知全豹，这一判例的天价赔偿额足以说明专利制度作为社会经济的调节工具在国外的普及认可程度。而就在欧美专利大战开展得如火如荼的时候，国内专利面临的一个问题却是：为什么中国的专利不值钱？
当然，上述问题并非籍笔者一人之微小力量和浅薄见识即可给出答案，不过作为专利代理机构的一员，也愿意抽取中国专利制度中的一个环节，即专利代理行业的现状为例说说自己的所见所闻所感，为各位师友展示中国专利实践的一个侧面，笔者相信，说的人越多，暴露得越充分，越有利于人们发现接近答案本身。
为了便于让大家更好地了解本文的主题，有必要再次审视一下专利代理行业所依附的大背景，即专利制度。就其本质而言，专利制度的实际是专利权人与国家签署的一项社会契约，而专利文件就是这份契约本身。权利人需要承担的义务是公开自己的技术；而作为交换，国家自专利授权之日起赋予专利权人一定期限的独占支配权并以强制力予以保护，在该期限届满后，对应的技术即转为入公有领域，成为社会的共同财富。与其他契约不同的是，专利契约一旦签署，其修订需要遵循严格的程序，而且专利权人的权利范围原则上是不可变更的（更不可扩大），所以契约本身是决定专利权人是否享有独占支配权和在多大范围内享有独占支配权的一个最基本的衡量标准，盖因为该契约的重要性与专业性，专利代理行业才应运而生，换个角度看，如果认为专利文件是一道回锅肉，那么发明人提供的是猪肉本身，专利代理机构就是那间做菜的厨房。鉴于专利的生命周期中，包括无效或诉讼的后续程序都以申请代理环节的工作成果为基础，笔者以为申请代理环节工作品质的优劣实际上决定了一份专利的命运。不过就这么一个重要环节，其在中国的现状状况得较为尴尬，主要表现在以下几个方面：
一、“IP民工”高学历、低收入
有人把专利代理人说成是三分之一是律师、三分之一是科学家、三分之一是语言学家，这或许有些言过其实，不过这至少可以说明专利代理工作是一门较为复杂的工作。如果有人到专利代理机构的网站上浏览从业人员的简历，你会发现他们往往受过相对正规的教育，有较高的学历，有不少是从相当有名的院校毕业，尤其是北上的一些大型代理机构，其从业人员用人才济济来形容并不为过。如果在IT行业，具有相同背景的“IT民工”们在入行的薪水在6千以上，在从业两年后的月基本工资保持在1.5万以上应该没有人怀疑。
在从事专利代理行业而又还尚未取得专利代理执业资格证的从业人员常常自嘲为“IP民工”，但与“IT民工”相比，“IP民工”们的收入情况却不容乐观：专利代理从业人员的薪酬分配通常为基本工资加计件报酬，由于目前为止，中国的大学还尚未培养出“专利代理”的毕业生，所以所有选择专利代理行业的毕业生们不得不从进入这个行业开始重新进行学习，故一般来说，“IP民工”们从业一年内基本上处于学徒阶段，该阶段内一方面不可能有高密度的产出，另一方面因为不能独立完成工作，所以劳动报酬的一部分要分配给自己的老师；所以这个阶段的从业人员大都拿着基本工资度日，基本不会有什么积蓄。在从业第二年后，坚持下来的大多数人基本上可以独立地完成专利初稿的撰写，在数量上也可以保持一个稳定的撰写量。按照笔者了解，单纯以发明专利的撰写为例（实用新型专利的撰写虽然要求没有发明高，但酬劳低，故也可参考发明专利的分配标准），南方的代理机构中，撰写一份发明专利的酬劳在￥400-800之间（包括基本工资在内），其中平均酬劳为￥500-600/份的占大多数，而在保证一定质量的情况下，撰写一项发明需要的时间约为16-24个小时，那么以国家法定工作时间计算，从业人员每月能够完成的发明稿件数量为8份，其收入介于￥之间，如果要想提高撰写数量，必须靠加班完成——其实大多数代理人都会加班，不过即便每周加班时间达到16个小时的情况下，“IP民工”每月可以多完成4份发明专利，收入仅增加，而且这部分收入是由牺牲自己的休息和娱乐时间来换取的。同时，这个数量也差不多到了月撰写量的瓶颈，由于专利代理是一个不可复制的工作，所以每个专利稿件的撰写都是一项独立的工作，需要耗费独立的时间，故在某个数量之后，“IP民工”们要提高自己的撰写量来增加收入将非常困难。
因此，在从业两年后，如果没有通过专利代理人资格考试，专利代理行业的从业人员月收入可能在左右徘徊，即便通过了专代考试的，月收入超过1.2万的是极少数，还随时面临“手停口停”的风险。
这一群跨过较高门槛进入代理行业，掌握较多门类知识、加班为常态的“IP”民工，收入却随时得不到保障，此为一怪。
二、专利代理人不写案
据国知局公布的数据显示，截至2012年8月底，全国共有专利代理机构888家，14679人取得专利代理人资格，全行业拥有执业专利代理人7909人。2011年，国家受理专利申请163.3万件。
有人据此断言说专利代理人是中国收入较高的群体之一，因为根据相关规定，执业专利代理人才可以从事专利代理工作。而以2011年的数据来说，即便只有60%的专利申请是委托专利代理机构进行代理，并且取得专利代理人资格的人都可以合法从事专利代理事务，那么这14679人仅就81.65万件专利申请在申请阶段的服务费进行分配，每个人的年薪也轻松突破20万——如果实际情况是和上述推理一致，那么专利代理行业的确还算是高收入行业。但实际情况是:取得专利代理人资格的14679人是从1984年现行《专利法》颁布起算的人数，这其中有人已经故去，有人退休。而在注册的执业专利代理人7909中，其中至少有2664人为全国888家代理机构的合伙人（以每个代理机构仅有3个合伙人的最低标准计），在我接触过的代理机构中，合伙人基本上忙于业务和管理，很少会从事基础撰写的工作；还有一部分代理人只是在事务所挂名，仅在每年年检的时候出现，也不会亲自写案，所以真正取得代理人执业证后还继续从事写案的人，可能只有执业证数量的1/3左右。
那么中国数以百万计的专利申请都是谁撰写出来的？答案是隐藏在专利代理人背后的诸如“专利工程师”，或者“专利代理人助理”，他们就是前文所述的“IP民工”。所以在专利代理行业内，第二怪在于“有（执业）证的不写案，写案的人都是无名氏（因为在专利申请文件上无法出现他们的名字）。
三、无证代理机构泛滥
《专利代理条例》第六条规定：申请成立办理国内专利事务的专利代理机构，或者律师事务所申请开办专利代理业务的，应当经过其主管机关同意后，报请省、自治区、直辖市专利管理机关审查；没有主管机关的，可以直接报请省、自治区、直辖市专利管理机关审查。审查同意的，由审查机关报中国专利局审批。
然而在实践中，没有专利代理资质而从事专利代理业务的非法机构比比皆是，业内俗称它们为“黑代理”。由于无需申报和年检，无证代理机构从业人员的水平往往参差不齐，很难保证撰写水平，而另一方面中国的实用新型专利由于无需实审，只需形式合格即可授权，这给无证代理机构提供了广泛的市场，尤其在专利制度仅有三十年历史的中国来说，很多专利权人都以为拿到了证书就绝对地拥有了权利，殊不知很多专利在碰到无效或者诉讼时，几乎毫无价值可言。此外，由于基本无投资支出，这些代理机构收费其低，严重扰乱了专利代理行业的市场秩序，引起恶性价格竞争，这也是导致合法代理机构利润空间有限，“IP民工”收入偏低的原因之一。而国知局明知无证代理机构肆虐，却每每隔靴搔痒，睁一只眼闭一只眼，导致该现象持续十数年不绝，导致专利代理机构人才缺乏，年龄结构老化，此为三怪，
四、考试与实务脱节严重
给行业设定准入门槛，如职业资格考试，这是目前各行业通行的一种做法。设立准入门槛一方面可以保证行业人员的素质，另一方面可以让从业者通过考试掌握从事本行业的必要知识，这也是必要的，不过笔者以为，中国专利代理人考试就实务部分有形式大于内容之嫌。
关于专利代理人资格考试，业内认可的一个说法是，考试就要当自己是个白痴，只需按照条条框框照葫芦画瓢即可。而实践也证明，现实实务经验与实务通过率呈反比，这让实践中实务经验丰富的众多“IP民工”深为诟病。而反过来，如果代理机构的从业人员们在实践中按照专利代理人资格考试的方法和套路去完成代理实务，其主张要么被专利局驳回，要么会让专利权人觉得申请文件的保护范围过小，并没有体现出专利代理人的思想性和专业性。而只有真正进行过专利代理的人才会明白，专利代理是一项极具个人色彩的服务，正是因为每个代理人的二次创造，才可能产生高质量和高水平的专利申请文件。
而目前国知局在专利代理考试中执行一种标准，在审查和无效中又执行另一种标准，职业资格考试和职业实务脱节严重，形式大于内容，不利于专利代理人最大限度地发挥其应有的价值，正如某论坛上名为notfat的网友的观点：“专利代理人考试，选贤任能应是其承载的社会责任。在私权已然合法的社会，专利代理人应该更多的维护当事人的利益，遗憾的是，这种考试却演变成了官方规范代理人配合审查员完成任务的工具。考生研究的重点，落在了出题人的考点思路上，不是落在法理与代理人应当承担的社会角色上。”笔者深感认同，追加为第四怪。
五、盲目追求数量
必须承认，专利制度近年来在中国的地位提升之快是前所未有的，中国第十二个五年计划甚至给专利提出了具体目标“即到2015年，本国人发明专利年度授权量进入世界前两名，每万人口发明专利拥有量提高到3.3件，对外专利申请量翻一番。规模以上工业企业中，有专利申请的比例超过8%......”；同时，作为中长期的战略，国家知识产权局还与2010年11月颁布了《全国专利事业发展战略()》，这一系列政策的出台给业内注入了新的信心和新的期待，可以预见，我们正在经历的10-20年，是中国的专利事业高速发展的阶段。
诚然，创新是一个民族进步的灵魂，不过如果创新是一个民族和团体自发的，自下而上出现的，那么这种创新精神更加值得赞扬；反之，如果创新是因为受行政命令的导向所致，那么这种创新的生命力必定会大打折扣，更有甚者，由于专利申请量纳入政绩工程的考核，地方政府极易陷入盲目追求数量，相互攀比，导致垃圾专利泛滥。
就笔者的了解，为了实现“十二五”规划，各级地方政府对中国专利申请都有资助，并在政策，税收上给予优惠，而PCT申请由国家给予资助。但是古人云，生于忧患，死于安乐，这种保姆式的帮扶如果太甚，有时并不能帮助企业形成一个良性的创新机制，为拔苗助长之举。比如有的地方政府拿出大量的款项作为专利基金，其数额也许超出了“帮扶”的范畴，有的地方市级给了奖励，区级再重复发奖，企业所属科技园区还有额外的奖励，以至于有的企业在申请专利后还有盈余，以至于有的企业和代理机构将申报垃圾专利作为一门赚钱多的行当。一般做法是：企业委托代理机构大量申报实用新型和外观专利，有的“专利”即便是完全没有创造性也不停提交，甚至有代理机构将已经过期的专利换个名字继续提交，待专利授权后，企业至各政府部门收取专利资助费用，代理机构通过代理这些实用新型和外观专利也获得收益。
于是政府有了政绩，企业有了名声，代理机构取得服务费，三方皆大欢喜，同时也造就了无数的垃圾专利，此第五怪。
六、漫长的维权之路
在中国还存在一个现象，就是专利诉讼程序繁多，耗时长，投入大，回报少。
在专利权纠纷中，从权利人提起诉讼开始，侵权方可以通过各种方式拖延时间，如以明显不成立的理由提起管辖权异议、在诉讼过程中提起无效宣告请求要求中止等。对于后者来说，如果专利权纠纷法院裁定中止，则将进入不确定的行政程序，根据经验，一般从提交无效宣告请求到拿到受理通知书需要3个月，等待口头审查需要3-6个月，做出决定结论又需要3-6个月，如果双方有任一方对无效宣告请求的结论不服，还可以在收到无效宣告决定后3个月内向北京市第一中级人民法院提起行政诉讼，行政诉讼还可以上诉。待上述过程结束，控辩双方再返回到民事诉讼，历经民事诉讼的一审和二审。如果以上程序全部走过，距发现侵权行为可能已经超过3年时间，这让大多数专利权人筋疲力尽，即便最后获得胜诉，最后得到的赔偿额在清偿完维权付出的费用后，往往所剩无几，还可能出现负债。
而对侵权方来说，相对于漫长的诉讼周期和低廉的赔偿数额来说，其侵权所需要承担的风险相对于可能的收益来说，有时甚至可以忽略。在这个消费品的生命周期日益缩短的时代，有的专利可用于实现价值的生命周期也就短短几个月，如果有好的销售策略及配套，侵权方通过侵权行为获得的利益可能远大于其付出的赔偿额，而当权利人取得最终的判决时，其产品早就已经下市，即便销毁其模具或者剩余库存实际已经没有任何意义。
而专利权纠纷中这种侵权方不胜而胜，权利人不败而败的现状，即为本文的第六怪。
其实中国的专利代理行业还有很多东西值得与大家分享，本文集中对几个比较突出的怪现状做一梳理。当然，以上内容只是作为一个从业两年的专利代理行业从业者对行业现状的观察，其中难免有疏漏和不足之处，笔者提出以上看法的目的并不是对现行制度的否定，相反，笔者正是希望将这些不合理的问题暴露阳光下，希望与各位同仁共同探讨，寻求解决方案，为专利行业的规范化和专业化发展贡献一点微薄的力量。
Unusual Phenomena Observed for Two Years in China’s Patent Agency Industry
In the last six months, the patent battle between Apple and Samsung has probably been the most attention-attracting event in the industry. The battle reached its climax when the Court of the state of California in the United States of America ruled on August 24th that Samsung should pay Apple a compensation of over 1 billion USD. The gigantic compensation in this case is enough to indicate how the patent system, as an adjusting tool of social economy, is popularized and recognized in foreign countries. However, just when the patent battle turns white hot in Europe and America, domestic patents are faced with a problem, that is, why are China’s patents so worthless?
Of course, my own strength and insight are not enough to give an answer to the aforesaid question. Nevertheless, as a member of a patent agency, I’d like to talk about my own experience and reflect on the current status of the patent agency industry, a link in China’s patent system, to show a side of China’s patent practice for you. I believe that the more people talk about it, the more fully it will be exposed, and the more easily people will get close to and find the answer itself.
In order to make you better understand the subject of the paper, it’s necessary to review again the background of the patent agency industry, namely, the patent system. The substance of the patent system in fact is a social contract signed between the patent owner and the nation, while the patent document is the contract itself. The obligation of the patent owner is to make public his/ as an exchange, the nation bestows the patent owner with an exclusive control of the patent and mandatory protection from the date the patent is licensed for a certain period. After the period expires, the corresponding technology will enter the public domain and become a common boon of the society. As opposed to other contracts, the patent contract, once signed, should go through a very strict procedure when being amended. Besides, the scope of rights of the patent owner cannot be altered in principle (i.e. be expanded). Therefore, the contract itself is the most basic measurement standard to decide whether and to what extent the patent owner holds the exclusive right of control. Perhaps it’s because of the importance and professionalism of the contract that the patent agency industry has come into being. Let’s view it from another angle. If the patent document is seen as a dish of twice cooked streaky pork, then the invention offered by the inventor is the pork itself while the patent agency is the kitchen for preparing the dish. In the life cycle of patents, the subsequent procedures of invalidation or litigation are based on the work results of patent application undertaken&by the agency. In my opinion, the quality of the work of application by the agency actually determines the fate of the patent. However, in today’s China such an important link, namely the application by agency, is in a relatively embarrassing situation, which is mainly manifested in the following aspects.
I. “IP Laborers” High in Education, but Low in Income
Some people say that the patent attorney is one third &lawyer, one third &scientist and another third &linguist. Maybe this is a bit exaggerated. But at least this indicates that patent agency work is a fairly complicated job. If you browse the resumes of the patent application talents on the website of a patent agency, you’ll find that they’re mostly formally educated, with an advanced degree, and many of them graduated from famous colleges and universities. Especially in some huge patent agencies in Beijing and Shanghai, talents are large in number. In the IT industry, no one will doubt that the salary of “IT Laborers” with the same background is above RMB6000 from the beginning, and their basic monthly wage will rise above RMB15, 000 after working in the industry for two years.
The employees that are engaged in the patent agency industry but have not acquired a patent attorney qualification certificate usually mock themselves as “IP Laborers”. However, compared with “IT Laborers”, the “IP Laborers” are far from being optimistic about their income. The salary allotment of patent agency employees is usually composed of basic wage plus piece count. Until today, universities in China have still not cultivated any “patent attorney” graduates. Therefore, all the graduates who choose to engage themselves in the patent agency industry have to learn from the beginning when they get started in the industry. Generally speaking, the “IP Laborers” are basically in the status of apprenticeship for the first year. Within this period, high-density output is impossible, but because they cannot finish the work on their own, part of the reward for their labor has to be allott therefore, the employees in this stage can only live on their basic wage. Few of them can accumulate any savings. From the second year on, most of the employees that have persisted can basically finish the drafting of patent documents on their own. And in quantitative terms, they can maintain a steady output of patent drafting. As far as I know, if we take the drafting of invention patents as the example (though requirements for the drafting of model utility patents are not as strict as those for invention patents, the pay of model utility patents dr so it can also refer to the pay allotment standard for invention patents), in patent agencies of Southern China, the reward for drafting an invention patent is RMB400-800 (including the basic wage), among which most are around RMB500-600. Under the precondition that certain quality is guaranteed, it takes about 16-24 hours to draft an invention patent. Then, if calculated according to the State’s work time standard, an employee can draft eight patent documents each month, so his/her income will be RMB. If one wishes to draft more patents, he/she has to work overtime. In fact, most patent attorneys are working overtime. However, even if their over-hours exceed 16 hours each week, the “IP Laborers” each month can draft 4 more inventions, and in this way their monthly income increases by RMB. Besides, all the increased income is acquired in the sacrifice of their rest and recreation time. Meanwhile, this number almost hits the bottleneck of monthly drafting quantity. Since patent agency work is a job that cannot be duplicated, the drafting of each patent is an independent and time-consuming job. Therefore, after a certain number is hit, it’s difficult for the “IP Laborers” to increase their income by increasing the number of patents drafted.
Therefore, after working in the industry for two years, if a patent agency employee still has not passed the patent attorney qualification test, his or her monthly income may be lingering around RMB. Even if he/she passes the patent attorney test, few earn a monthly income of over RMB12000. And they’re also faced with the risks of “no work, no pay” at any time.
It’s an unusual phenomenon that income is not guaranteed for the group of “IP Laborers” who have crossed a high threshold and enter the patent agency industry, and who have mastered many a category of know-how and formed a habit of working overtime.
II. Patent Attorneys Don’t Draft Patents Themselves
As the data released by the SIPO (State Intellectual Property Office) indicates, by the end of August, 2012, there were a total of 888 patent agencies nationwide, a total of 14,679 people have obtained the patent attorney qualification and there are 7,909 licensed patent attorneys in the industry. In 2011, the nation received a total of 1.633 million patent applications.
Based on this, some people assert that patent attorneys are one of the groups enjoying a fairly high income, because according to the relevant provisions, only licensed patent attorneys can be engaged in the work of the patent agency. And from the standpoint of the data for 2011, even if only 60％ of the patent applications are handled by patent agencies, only those who have obtained the patent attorney qualification can legally work on them. Therefore, there are 8,165 patent applications whose service charge, at the stage of application, can be allotted to these 14,679 people. According to this, each person’s yearly income could easily exceed 200 thousand RMB. If the reality is the same as the above speculation, then the patent agency industry can indeed be deemed as one industry with high income. But the reality is: the number of people obtaining patent attorney qualification is counted starting from the date when the current Patent Law was published in 1984. Among these, some of them have passed away, and some have retired. Among the 7,909 licensed patent attorneys, at least 2,664 people are partners of the 888 patent agencies nationwide (counted according to the standard that each patent agency has a minimum of three partners). Among the patent agencies I have got in touch with, those partners are basically busy with business and management. Few of them are still engaged in the jo another part of the patent attorneys just place their names in the patent agencies. They only show up at the time of annual inspection. And they don’t draft patents by themselves. So the number of people who continue to engage in drafting after obtaining the patent attorney qualification is perhaps about 1/3 the number of holders of patent attorney certificates.
So who drafts the millions of patent applications in China? The answer is hidden in the “patent engineers” or “patent attorney assistants” behind the patent attorneys. They are namely the “IP Laborers” mentioned above. Therefore, the second unusual phenomenon in the industry is that “those with qualification certificates do not draft while those who are drafting patents are anonymous (because their names will not appear on the patent application documents)”.
III. The Inundation of Unlicensed Agencies&
The sixth article of the Patent Agency Ordinance specifies: people who apply for establishing patent agencies that deal with domestic patent affairs, or law firms that apply for launching a patent agency service, should first obtain approval from their competent authorities, then they should report to the administrative patent authorities of their provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to have an examination. Those without competent authorities should directly report to the administrative patent authorities of their provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to have an examination. If approval is granted upon examination, the examining authorities should report the patents to Chinese Patent Office to for examination and approval.
However, in practice, illegal institutions that do not possess patent agency qualification but are engaged in patent agency services can be found everywhere,. They are commonly called “black agencies” by the industry. Because unlicensed agencies need no declaration and annual inspection, the capabilities of their patent employees vary significantly, so the quality of their writing can hardly be guaranteed. On the other hand, because utility model patents in China need no real examination and authorization can be granted as long as their this brings forward a vast market to unlicensed agencies. Especially in China, where the patent system has only a history of thirty year, many patentees believe that once they have the certificates, they absolutely own the right, but they don’t know many patents almost become worthless when they encounter invalidation or litigation. Besides, because these unlicensed agencies have almost no investment expenses, they can charge very low fees, which seriously disrupts the market order of the patent agency industry and causes vicious price competition, which is also one of the reasons that legal agencies have limited profit margins and “IP laborers” have low incomes. Nevertheless, although the SIPO knows of the inundation of unlicensed agencies, it always turns a blind eye to this and gives no effective solutions, which resulted in the aforesaid phenomenon’s lasting for more than a decade, a lack of patent agency talent and the increase of the average age of workers in the patent agencies. And this is the third unusual phenomenon.
IV. Examination and Practice Seriously Disjointed
To set the access threshold for the industry, through means such as occupational qualification exams, is a general practice in various industries at present. Setting the access threshold on one hand can guarantee the quality of industry personnel and on the other hand can force patent employees to master the necessary knowledge of the industry through exams. This is necessary, but I think the Chinese patent agent examination puts form above substance on the part of practice.&
A statement widely recognized in the industry on the patent agent qualification exam is that when taking an exam, the participants should consider themselves idiots and they only need to follow the rules and then copy. And practice also proves that experience in reality is inversely proportional to passing rate, which is deeply criticized by many “IP laborers” who have rich practical experience. Conversely, if in practice, the patent employees of agencies complete their work according to the methods and routines of the patent agent qualification exam, either their proposals are rejected by the patent office, or the patentees would feel that the protection range of the application documents is too narrow, and this doesn’t reflect the ideological and professional level of patent agents. And only people who truly have patent agency experience can understand that patent agency is service of a highly personal color and it is only because of this second creation of every agent that patent application documents of high quality and high level are likely to be produced.&
However, the SIPO carries out one standard in patent agency examinations while it carries out another standard in investigation and invalidation, which makes the occupational qualification exam seriously disjointed with occupational practice Form exceeds substance and it is not conducive to the maximization of patent agents’ value . As described by a net friend named notfat on a certain forum: “Employing people according to their merits should be the social responsibility of the patent agent exam. In a society where private rights are already legitimate, patent agents should safeguard the interests of their clients as much as possible. Unfortunately, the exam has developed into a tool used by officials to regulate the agents to coordinate with the inspectors in order to complete the task. The examinees place the stress of their study on the main test contents and the ideas of the examiners, rather than the social roles and legal principles the agents should undertake.” I deeply agree with this view, and this is the fourth unusual phenomenon.
V. Pursuing Numbers Blindly
We have to admit that the status of the patent system has risen so rapidly in recent years that there is no precedent. China’s 12th five-year plan even sets a specific target for patents, which is that by the year 2015, the number of annual authorizations for China’s invention patents should rank number two in the world, the ownership of invention patents per ten thousand people should increase to 3.3, the number of patent applications to foreign countries should double, and in industrial enterprises above a designated size, the proportion of patent application should surpass 8%......” Meanwhile, as a medium and a long term strategy, the SIPO promulgated the National Patent Career Development Strategy () in November, 2011. The release of these policies has injected confidence and new expectations into the industry. It is foreseeable that the 10-20 years we are currently experiencing will be the period when China’s patent career develops most rapidly.&
Indeed, innovation is the soul of a nation’s progress, but if innovation happens spontaneously in a nation or an organization, and arise from the bottom to the top, then this kind of innovation is worth more praise. Conversely, if innovation is caused by the guidance of executive orders, then the vitality of this kind of innovation will be greatly reduced. Moreover, because the number of patent applications is brought into the evaluation of official achievement, local governments will easily pursue numbers blindly and compete against each other, which will results in an inundation of rubbish patents.
As far as I understand, in order to realize the “Twelfth Five-year Plan”, local governments at all levels offer funding to Chinese patent applications. They also grant privileges to patent applications in policies and in taxation while PCT application is funded by the country. However, as the ancients said: “One prospers in worries and hardships, and perishes in ease and comfort.” If this kind of nanny help is given too much, it sometimes can’t actually help enterprises form a benign innovative mechanism. Instead, it will become a destructive enthusiasm. For example, some local governments give out a lot of money as patent funds, whose amount may be beyond the scope of “support”; in some places, the municipal levels have given rewards, the district levels also repeat the rewards and there are additional rewards from the science & technology park which the enterprises belong to. As a result, some enterprises still have a surplus after the patent application process is accomplished and some enterprises and agencies consider applying for rubbish patents as a way of making money. A general practice is: Enterprises entrust agencies to submit applications for utility model and design patents in a large number. For some patents of no innovation, applications are also submitted and some agencies even submit applications for patents that are already overdue by changing their names. After the patents are licensed, enterprises demand payment from patent funds sponsored by governmental departments of different levels and agencies also gain profits by handling the application of these utility models and design patents.&
Therefore, the government gains official achievements, enterprises gain reputation and agencies gain service fees. All of them are content, but at the same time, numerous rubbish patents are produced, and this is the fifth unusual phenomenon.
VI. A Long Road for Safeguarding Rights
In China, there’s still another phenomenon, that is, the legal proceedings of patents are burdensome, time consuming, require a large input and generate little reward.
In a patent dispute, from the moment the patent owner files a suit, the tort party can postpone the trial date by many means. For example, they can raise an objection to the right of jurisdiction by obviously invalid reasons, or demand suspension by raising a request for invalidation during the litigation. For the latter method, if the court rules to suspend the patent dispute, it will enter into undetermined administrative procedures. According to experience, generally it will take three months from the submitting of an invalidation request to the receipt of an acceptance notice. It takes another 3-6 months to get to the oral examination, and yet another 3-6 months to reach a conclusion. If either party objects to the conclusion of the invalidation request, the objecting party can file an administrative lawsuit to Beijing’s No.1 Intermediary People’s Court within three months after receiving the conclusion of invalidation, and the administrative lawsuit can also be lodged to a higher court. When the aforesaid processes are over, both sides will return to civil action, to go through the first level and second level of civil action. If the above procedures are all completed, over three years will have passed from the time when the tort began. This will leave most patent owners exhausted. Even if they win in the end, after paying off all the costs and expenses for safeguarding their rights, little will be left of the compensation they receive, and in the worst case, they might fall into debt.
For the tort party, compared with the long period of action and the small amount of compensation, the risks of tort proceedings they have to bear can sometimes even be neglected when compared with the possible benefits they gain. In such an era in which the life cycle of consumer goods is increasingly short, the life cycle to fulfill the value of some patents may be just several months. With good sales strategies and support, the tort party may be able to gain a benefit much larger than the compensation it pays. When the patent owner receives the final judgment, their products may have already exit the market. It will be of little consequence even if the moulds or the remaining inventories are destroyed.
So it’s the sixth unusual phenomenon to be named in this paper that in patent disputes, the tort party wins while the patent owner loses.
Conclusion
In fact there’re more worth sharing about China’s patent agency industry. This paper makes a summary of several unusual phenomena which are prominent in the industry. Of course, the above contents are just based on observations made by a patent attorney with two years experience in the industry on the current status of this industry. So there’s sure to be some oversights and shortages. The purpose for which I put forward the above ideas is not to deny the existing system. On the contrary, I wish to undertake an exploration with all my peers by exposing all these unreasonable problems in the light, and seeking the solutions to the problems, thereby making my due contribution to the standardization and professionalization of the patent industry.
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