A Series of Interviews on the 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park (II)
By Meteor Tang, China IP
2018 is an extraordinary year for the intellectual property industry. This year, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, and are proud of the great progress and outstanding achievements made in China's intellectual property cause over the past ten years since the promulgation and implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategic Outline. It also coincides with the 15th anniversary of the establishment of Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park. This is the first and the unique state-level intellectual property system demonstration park approved by the State Council. Under the attention and leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the Beijing municipality government, after 15 years of intensive development, the intellectual property policy and the working system of the park are constantly improved, and the service resources are highly concentrated. It makes excellent Zhongguancun innovation resources achieve explosive growth, and the Zhongguancun patent creation data is constantly refreshed.
In order to support innovation and development of Zhongguancun leading enterprises, mass entrepreneurship and innovation enterprises and unicorn enterprises, Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park provides multilevel and multi-layer intellectual property policy for enterprises. It not only actively introduces national level review resources and professional resources of service agencies, but also continuously gives priority to transfer patent examiners of the state intellectual property office to Zhongguancun private enterprises to carry out practical exchange activities and organizes and carries out multiphase patent tour reviews and centralized examination activities, and makes every effort to carry out Zhongguancun enterprise intellectual property services. In the past 15 years, annual patent applications and PCT patent applications have increased rapidly, and the park has continuously emerged a lot of highquality patents. By the end of 2017, enterprises in the demonstration park had more than 80,000 patients for valid inventions.
Supporting the innovation of high-tech enterprises and developing t h e l a y o u t of knowledge of production at the same time
In the latest series of interviews, China IP reporters interviewed Lenovo, Konruns, Megvii and other enterprises, witnessed the strong development trend of the enterprises under the powerful promotion of IPRs. This series of reporters visited a Zhongguancun high-tech enterprise.
Beijing DREAM INK Technologies Co., Ltd., fully understood the innovation road of start-up company and its rapid progress in intellectual property.
Relying on the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, CAS, Tsinghua University and other technical forces, Beijing DREAM INK Technologies Co., Ltd. conducts research and industrial application around its world's first liquid metal electronic enhancement material manufacturing technology. Manufacturing technology for liquid metal electronic enhancement materials, the WYSIWYG electronic printing / printing mode provides a revolutionary approach for developing inclusive electronic manufacturing technology and reshaping traditional electronic and integrated circuit manufacturing rules.
Intellectual property is at the heart competitiveness of enterprises, especially for high-tech start-up enterprises. Only by making a good strategic layout of intellectual property for the establishment of the enterprise, can the high-tech start-up enterprise develop and expand in the increasingly fierce market competition and realize the market value of the enterprise. As a start-up enterprise, Beijing DREAM INK Technologies Co., Ltd. has applied for more than 300 core technology patents and PCT, and has a completely independent intellectual property system. Dr. Yu Yang, Cofounder of the company, told China IP reporter that, “innovation and intellectual property are complementary and inseparable, the really valuable patents must be based on innovation. Without innovation, intellectual property can’t be strengthened. Beijing DREAM INK applied for its first patent in 2011. The company was founded in 2014. One of the most important things during that time is to accumulate and preserve intellectual property.”
The company team’s liquid metal technology research and application rank top in the domestic and international field. According to Dr. Yu Yang, before 2018, there were no more than five scientific institutions around the world. After 2018, with the increasing influence of this technology in the world, more and more teams begin to study in this field. Although the industrial development and application of this technology haven’t been involved by many enterprises yet, the intellectual property team of Beijing DREAM INK insists on carrying out patent early warning and evaluation on a regular basis. Dr. Yu Yang said, "the technology itself is relatively new and original, so that it will have very high licensing possibility." Therefore, between 2017 and 2018, the number of intellectual property rights of Beijing DREAM INK increased dramatically; from more than 30 patent applications in 2017 to more than 300 in 2018, the growth rate has reached 10 times.” But in his view, the company patent base remains small. More patent applications are preparing for layout in advance to meet subsequent technology applications and business fields.
The head of the intellectual property team of Beijing DREAM INK told China IP reporter that, the company's rapid growth in patent applications cannot be realized without the powerful support from Zhongguancun intellectual property bureau. “Since the establishment of the company, the Zhongguancun intellectual property bureau has not only provided a green channel for the patent application of Beijing DREAM INK, helped the enterprise to handle the related priority examination, accelerated the speed of patent licensing, but also provided special fund for enterprises to start their own businesses, and has provided a great of deal of assisting in PCT application and enterprise technology research and development. At the same time, Beijing DREAM INK is also benefited from the fee reduction of the Zhongguancun intellectual property bureau. In 2018, it saved nearly 100,000 Yuan application fee for the enterprises through the fee reduction policy.”
The company is among the first batch of companies selected by Zhongguancun Frontier Technology Center, and is also the top 10 leading companies in the new material industry in 2017. It is ranked among the top 50 star-creating enterprises in China hard science and technology field in 2018 and the TOP 10 list of 2018 subversive innovations. The company’s products were selected as “R&D 100 Awards” Finalist which is also known as the “Academy Awards” of global innovation in science and technology, and won the “Top 10 Innovation Achievements of Zhongguancun” and the first prize of the first Haidian High Value Patent Cultivation Competition.
Exert the leading role of the leading enterprise and increase the quality and quantity of patent Relying on the support of the state intellectual property bureau and Zhongguancun unique resources, BOE, Xioami, Baidu, BAIC BJEV, Qihu, iQIYI and other leading enterprises shown up with more than a thousand annual number of patent applications. In this series of interviews, China IP reporter visited one of the leading enterprises, Xiaomi Group, to explore its very valuable intellectual property development process and management strategy.
Xiaomi Group is an Internet company with a core of mobile phone, smart hardware and IoT platform. The company is not only committed to smart phones, smart home, Internet TV and other innovative technology, but also actively contributed in artificial intelligence, new retail, internationalization, internet finance and other fields which has begun to take shape. Relying on the Internet development model, geek spirit R&D products, taking advantage of the “hardware + new retail + internet” three innovation advantages, Xiaomi Group has developed rapidly and became the representative of Chinese “Internet+” innovative enterprises.
With a longstanding commitment to quality and innovation, Xiaomi has become a company with more than 100 billion revenues in just seven years, which creates a world record in business history. At the same time, Xiaomi Group attaches great importance to intellectual property rights since its establishment, which is not only while protect their rights and interests, but also benefits more consumers.
Xiaomi Group’s legal officials told China IP reporter, “since the group’s early development, Xiaomi Group’s intellectual property team has deeply cooperated with the R&D team in projects, followed the products, and promoted deep development.” As researchers learned the importance of patents, the company entered the stage of initiative patent applications. Xiaomi group applied for the first patent in the year of its establishment. After settling into the Zhongguancun Park, the relevant departments, including the Zhongguancun intellectual property bureau, gave a lot of support to the Xiaomi group. At the same time, under the guidance of the State intellectual property Office and the intellectual property bureau, Xiaomi Group has developed a series of intellectual property management systems and implemented them, and built a diversified intellectual property asset for patents, trademarks, copyrights and domain names.
Xiaomi Group continues to convey the true values of intellectual property with its own actions all the time, and fully respects intellectual property rules. On the other hand, Xiaomi Group continues to strengthen its intellectual property accumulation, builds up competitive power with global giants as soon as possible. The Xiaomi Group’s legal affairs leader said, “In the aspect of enterprise internationalization, in order to avoid facing patent barriers, Xiaomi group has always adhered to the principle that patents precede product internationalization. Xiaomi hopes to use its own actions to make the world's innovation enterprises see the respect and emphasis of Chinese enterprises on intellectual property rights. It was indeed, and according to the 2016 annual report released by the European Patent Office, Xiaomi ranked 35th in Top 50 applicants with 514 applications and ranked the third largest of all Chinese companies.
Intellectual property, as the intangible assets of enterprises, can play an active role in high-tech enterprises identification, corporate financing, pledge loans, company going public, and other aspects. Then how should start-up high-tech enterprises improve intellectual property distribution, how do they deal with patent litigation and other issues? Xiaomi Group’s legal affairs officials talked to the China IP reporter about their own experience. Startups, she says, should still prefer the “results” rather than pursue too much “vanity”. Chinese enterprises should make the best use of utility model patent system, which is not in conflict with high value patent. Don’t just focus on invention patents. Utility models, design and other patents are also very important, especially the innovation-oriented startups, and they should put the protection of innovation to an influential position. Before listing and even at the beginning of launching a business, they should carry out the patent application. Secondly, risk screening is also essential. Since startups are underfunded to support independent Center, and is also the top 10 leading companies in the new material industry in 2017. It is ranked among the top 50 star-creating enterprises in China hard science and technology field in 2018 and the TOP 10 list of 2018 subversive innovations. The company’s products were selected as “R&D 100 Awards” Finalist which is also known as the “Academy Awards” of global innovation in science and technology, and won the “Top 10 Innovation Achievements of Zhongguancun” and the first prize of the first Haidian High Value Patent Cultivation Competition.
A responsible person of the Zhongguancun intellectual property bureau told China IP reporter that after 15 years of development and exploration, the Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park has created a “Zhongguancun Model” which is a new mode lead innovation and development through intellectual property, and has realized remarkable achievements in the development of intellectual property rights. Innovative vitality is stimulated thoroughly, and the number of intellectual property rights has achieved a qualitative leap. By the end of 2017, enterprises in the demonstration park had more than 80,600 patents for valid inventions which cover 64.0% of the total number of effective invention patents in the same period of time in Beijing enterprises. The number of patents reached 114.5 patents per 10,000 people. It has 87.72 more invention patents per 10,000 people than Beijing, which ranks first in the country. At the same time, its level of innovation has also been considerably improved, providing a solid guarantee for Zhongguancun enterprises to expand domestic and foreign markets, and also laid a solid foundation for Zhongguancun to build a global technological innovation center.
The person also said that, in the future, the Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park will also closely focus on building “three cities and one district”, serving “high-tech, refined and advanced” industries, cultivating high value patents, promoting patent operations, and actively and continuously promoting the internationalization development of intellectual property service industry and building of diversified intellectual property protection mechanism.
