Foreign Patents Research Articles

The green transformation effect of foreign patent applications in China: evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises

The green transformation effect of foreign patent applications in China: evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises

Estimating the value of expired and active patents: A renewal model approach

ABSTRACT This study proposes an updated renewal model to estimate active patent value and technical depreciation in five major Indian technology fields. According to a study of 27,000 patents issued by the Indian Patent Office between 1998 and 2018, Indian patents have a lower value than foreign patents. This suggests that India's patenting and R&D qualities differ from those of more advanced countries. Technology-specific factors are important because technology fields depreciate at different rates. The top 5% of patents accounted for most international and domestic patent values. A genetic algorithm is used to optimise the renewal model accuracy. This study has significant implications for Indian policymakers, patent holders, international investors, and technology market participants. This model allows startups and new businesses who want to value their IP at the very early stage to negotiate with their counterpart when licensing or selling the patents.

Implementing open innovation in a closed biopharmaceutical industry

Over the last decade, biopharmaceuticals’ research, development, production, and sale have involved high risks and costs for companies. Hence companies have moved toward reaping the benefits of open innovation models. Open innovation is a paradigm that forces the company to use internal and external ideas to accelerate and upgrade its technology and product innovation. This study attempts to identify and explain the open innovation model in the biopharmaceutical industry by studying the successful experiences of two prominent Iranian companies. Also, 22 companies were identified and 19 questionnaires were completed finally. The results of this study showed that the value chain in this industry consists of four major links (including research/discovery, development, production, and sales) and nine sub-links. Based on this, the conceptual model of open innovation in the value chain of Iran's biopharmaceutical industry is drawn with emphasis on four main actors including foreign patent companies, accelerators, large bio-companies, and distribution companies. Meanwhile, despite numerous problems, this industry has been able to move in the direction of open innovation.

The effects of foreign patent litigation on firms’ patent strategies: evidence from Chinese litigants in the US court

ABSTRACT The internationally orientated market leads to a surge of cross-border patent litigations. Despite the growing literature on patent litigations, research on the impact of patent litigation on firms’ patent strategy is sparse, especially on the impact of foreign patent litigations. Using US patent infringement lawsuits in which Chinese public firms act as defendants, this paper investigates the effect of foreign patent litigation on firms’ subsequent patent outputs and patent trajectories. We find that the experience of foreign patent litigation increases the accused firms’ subsequent patent filings, and those firms tend to apply exploitative patents instead of exploratory patents. We further find that such promoting impact is more pronounced for firms with a high level of international intensity and firms in the ICT industry. These findings highlight the role of foreign patent litigation in future patent creation, thus enriching the literature on patent litigation and international business. According to the results, firms should take foreign patent litigation as an opportunity to build a strong patent portfolio and improve patent strategies.

Australian innovative activity and international technology, 1854–2016

Abstract Has Australia’s focus as a producer and exporter of natural resources—often considered low technology industries—constrained the development of its innovation system? We exploit a new digital database from the Commonwealth Patent Office to investigate this question. We find that the focus of domestic innovativeness supported key industries for Australian development and complemented technological specialization by foreign patent applicants, particularly in European and American manufacturing. The results support the argument that shifts in national technological orientation is a relatively long game and that technical advantage is shaped by a nation’s stage of economic development.

Patent Analysis of Aluminum Based Sacrificial Anode Materials at Domestic and Abroad

Aluminum-based sacrificial anode is a new kind of sacrificial anode material developed rapidly in recent years. It has many advantages, such as low price, high potential of metal driving, large theoretical capacity and rich resource reserves, and is widely used in marine facilities and petroleum industry. However, the related contents of aluminum-based sacrificial anode are various and difficult to be analyzed statistically. On this basis, the relevant patents of aluminum-based sacrificial anode published at home and abroad are statistically analyzed. According to statistics, China's marine aluminum-based sacrificial anode material patent ratio is 73.4%, oil field aluminum-based sacrificial anode material patent ratio is 26.6% . Foreign patents on aluminum-based sacrificial anode have a long history, and the number of patents after 2000 is relatively small. In addition, according to the three categories of component design, preparation process and auxiliary device, the contents of relevant patents are statistically analyzed. It is found that in recent years, the number of patents related to aluminum-based sacrificial anode auxiliary device is higher than the other two types. In terms of the number of patents published, there has been a sharp increase since 2010, with more than half coming from corporate r & D. At the same time, by classifying the composition of aluminum alloy sacrificial anode material in the patent, the content of zinc, indium, tin, magnesium and titanium in aluminum-based sacrificial anode materials and their effects on the properties of anode materials are summarized, the application of alloying elements at home and abroad is compared and analyzed. The effects of zinc content and gallium content on the performance of anode materials were discussed. Finally, some suggestions on the development of aluminum-based sacrifice are put forward.

The Influence of the Green Density on the Quality of ZTA Zirconia Toughened Alumina Plungers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the green density (ρ<sub>g</sub>) on the sintered density (ρ<sub>s</sub>), shrinkage according height and diameter (HS, DS), relative density, porosity and hardness of ZTA ceramic plungers. Zirconia toughened alumina is characterized by excellent properties of hardness, toughness, thermal and chemical resistance, which make composite material interesting for multiple applications. Some of the significant applications of ZTA ceramics are in the production of biomedical implants, cutting tools, parts for pumps and others. The material is composed of high purity alumina 90% and 10% of zirconium oxide. This material successfully compensate fragility of the alumina and zirconium oxide price. After 24 hours of milling in a ball mill (Dorst, Germany) slurry with a specific surface 25 832 cm2/g was transferred into a mixer with addition of binders (PVA + soap based binder) through a vibrating sieve (British and Foreign Patents). Solid content (%) of the slurry in amount of 69.16 was confirmed by thermogravimetric and differential gravimetric analyzes. The 1000 kg of the powder dried by spray drying (Spray dryer Niro) contains 2.6% of binders and 0.2% of moisture. Three sets of plungers with outer diameter of 3.6 cm, inner diameter of 2.0 cm and height of 7.6 cm were produced by cold isostatic pressing (CIP) using different pressures. The first set marked as 'A' was pressed by pressure of 80 MPa, the second set marked as 'B' was pressed by pressure of 100 MPa, and third set marked as 'C', was pressed by pressure of 150 MPa. According to statistical data processing, comparison and analysis of the results it is concluded that the quality of the ZTA plungers, in specific presented case, significantly depends on the green density (ρ<sub>g</sub>).

Exploiting treaty ambiguity: Public health exceptions in the WTO TRIPS agreement

AbstractTreaty exceptions have long been viewed as essential to the design of international agreements. Yet, agreements also leave ‘room to maneuver’ through the use of constructive ambiguity, that is, by defining treaty terms with deliberately ambiguous words. When are countries more likely to exploit this treaty ambiguity? What does this exploitation look like? We argue that in democratic countries, where states face continued pressures to react to domestic needs, governments are more likely to legislate unambiguous circumstances in which they can apply international treaty exceptions. We argue this should be especially true in developing democracies facing external pressure from foreign firms and developed countries to legislate public policy with their external interests in mind. We test our theory in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and compulsory licensing legislation for HIV/AIDS drugs between 2000 and 2012. We find that when public access to medicines for HIV/AIDS is limited but in high demand, democratic governments are more likely to legislate explicit public health protection under TRIPS exceptions, especially in developing countries with high rates of foreign patent ownership. We conclude that such exploitation is most likely when countries seek to prevent precedents by action, or adjudication, that better define constructively ambiguous treaty terms.

ІНФРАСТРУКТУРА ІНСТИТУЦІОНАЛІЗАЦІЇ ПРИВЛАСНЕННЯ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНО-ЦИФРОВОГО ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНОГО ПРОДУКТУ: РОЗПОВСЮДЖЕННЯ ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНИХ ПОСЛУГ

The paper discusses of elements of infrastructure of institutionalization of appropriation of informativelydigital intellectual product. Evolution of scientific fundamental and empiric developments of the infrastructure was exposed. The economic relations concerning intellectual services how condition of appropriation of informatively-digital intellectual product was grounded in represented its scientific determinations. Authorial determination of content of infrastructure of appropriation of informatively-digital intellectual product was offered. The infrastructure of institutionalization of appropriation of informatively-digital intellectual product was outlined how a result of barriers out of reproduction of actors of its appropriation. Was circumscribe the elements of infrastructure of institutionalization of appropriation of informatively-digital intellectual product, namely: organizational rules (for the funds of assistance to crediting, associative consulting firms, association of resources of private business and state), normatively-legal laws (in relation to businessincubators, technological and scientifically-research parks), traditions and patterns of economics (centers of transfer of technologies, its commercialization and National organ of intellectual property). Delivery of intellectual services, what aimed to decreasing of transaction costs into the infrastructure of institutionalization of appropriation of informatively-digital intellectual product, was exposed. Was found out the varieties of intellectual services, what assistance of extended reproduction of appropriation of informatively-digital intellectual product in the socio-economic clusters of his actors, namely: financing of researches, consulting, tuition and retraining of specialists (in the cluster of creators), unification of creation of intellectual product, saving and commercialization of legitimate intellectual product (in the cluster of producers), the transfer of technologies, support of the foreign patenting and assistance to commercialization of inventions (in the cluster of mediators-entrepreneurs). Further researches must be goal-seeking to the modeling of measures of regulation of functions of elements of infrastructure of institutionalization of appropriation of informatively-digital intellectual product. Practical importance of the paper was represented in an availability for government regulation of development of local types of industrial activity in Ukraine with the high degree of scientific accompaniment on the newest technological basis.

Development of technological sector “Driverless vehicles and highly automated vehicles” based on the results of patent search

Introduction (problem statement and relevance). In the modern world, the issue of relevance of driverless vehicles and implementation of this technology in economic, legal and technological environment is more acute than ever. The scope of the latest technological solutions grows year by year often drawing attention of the largest companies that are ready to invest effort and finance in improvement of methods, techniques and devices related to production and operation of driverless transport. The purpose of the study is to analyze the main development trends of the driverless vehicle technologies market based on the patent search over the period of 2012–2021, to identify regularities and draw conclusions on the state of the technology market development at the time of the study. Methodology and research methods. In the course of the study, domestic and foreign patent documentation databases were examined, as well as directly the patent documents describing various technical solutions in the technological sector of driverless vehicles. Scientific novelty and results. Following the results of the analysis, conclusions on the high level of interest from inventors and large organizations, especially from the Asian region, in the developments in the “Driverless vehicles and highly automated vehicles” sector were drawn. Based on the data, conclusions on the Russian patent activity were also drawn, in comparison with the indicators of other leading countries. It was noted that the technological sector had been developing rapidly and achieved the peak indicators in 2020 so far. Practical significance. The analysis results can be used by inventors and organizations in order to identify the trends of the world market of technologies and demand for individual developments within the technological sector.

Proposals for Differentiating Remuneration for Patent Holders in the Context of Limiting their Exclusive Rights in Healthcare

The paper discusses current issues of legal response to unfair or ineffective actions of patent holders in the exercise of their exclusive rights in the field of healthcare. As a legal response tool in these circumstances, the author proposes not only to limit exclusive rights in accordance with the rules of Art. 1360, 1360.1 and 1362 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, but also differentiate the amount of remuneration (commensurate compensation) due to patent holders. It is proposed to reduce the amount of this remuneration (up to its zeroing) depending on the presence of factors of dishonesty of actions or inaction of patent holders that affected the availability on the Russian market of pharmaceutical and medical goods, works and services in which the corresponding objects of patent protection are used. The proposed differentiation, on the one hand, will stimulate patent holders to take more active steps aimed at ensuring the availability of relevant pharmaceutical and medical goods, works or services on the Russian market. On the other hand, in law enforcement practice, it will respond consistently and more effectively to unfair actions or inaction of rights holders, which led to problems with the availability of highly socially important goods in the healthcare sector. At the same time, it is noted that it is unfair to equalize all foreign patent holders associated with unfriendly countries and to zero the amount of their remuneration in the situations specified in paragraph. 2 clause 2 of the methodology approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated October 18, 2021 No. 1767 (as amended on March 6, 2022).

Technological trends in wheeled armoured vehicle from patent analysis

This study analyzed the domestic and foreign patent applications and technology trends of wheeled armored vehicles. Patents for wheeled armored vehicles have been steadily filed since 2009. As the technology development of armoured vehicles has achieved maturity, this technology has entered stabilization period. The scope of patent technology search is to select patent documents from the five major patent application countries that have applied for a large number of patents globally in both quantity and quality, and the search focused on patents published and registered between 1990 and August 2019 using the WIPS ON program. In particular, the main technologies of wheeled armored vehicles, such as protection, mobility, firepower, and body technology, were analyzed. Technological trend data from patents can be used to create requirements for weapons systems. If technology trends are not sufficiently reflected when raising requirements for a weapon system, problems such as obsolete technology development and lack of operational effectiveness may occur, if an excessive required operational capability (ROC) is set without considering the technology, there is a risk that the target performance may not be reached, costs may be incurred and additional time may be needed. So, for the development of weapon systems, it is necessary to analyze the trends of major technologies and find promising technologies in the long term and of wheeled armored vehicles and the latest development trends of major countries are investigated, as well as the technical information necessary for the establishment of the maneuvering system, which is the cornerstone of Army TIGER 4.0.

The Effects of Foreign Patent Litigation on Firms’ Patent Strategies

The Effects of Foreign Patent Litigation on Firms’ Patent Strategies

Evaluation and comparison of domestic and foreign patent portfolios based on F-term on optical lenses of competitors

This paper evaluates domestic and foreign patent portfolios owned by ten top competitors in Japan on the optical lenses of digital cameras. The objective is to establish an efficient and simple tool to provide an enterprise with the ability to investigate its competing position in order to identify its favorable research and development directions and enhance its patent application strategy.The method is to use three quantitative indicators defined by patent classifications, especially the Japanese patent classification F-term. The indicators represent the technical value of a single invention, between multiple inventions, and all inventions, respectively. Comparison of all aspects of values between Japanese and US patent portfolios are presented on two-dimensional maps.The evaluations show the performance of competitors and obtain the advisements of patent application strategy for an individual company. The results show that Jaccard index based on F-term is a very good tool for calculating the similarity between patents to obtain innovativeness. All indicators show that the thinking of Japanese competitors in R&D and patent filing strategies have high similarity, and there is currently no breakthrough between all competitors. The multi-viewpoint F-term system has resulted in Japanese companies having a large number of patents in a relatively closed environment.

무인 배송 로봇 기술의 특허 동향 분석과 전망

With the advent of the untact era due to COVID-19, demand in the existing online market and the courier and logistics industry is accelerating. At the same time, the problem of decreasing available labor force due to decreasing population growth rate and aging is growing, causing difficulties due to labor shortage. In this paper, we examine the patent application trends of unmanned delivery systems by country, technology, and major applicants, and identify the degree of patent activity of major companies through index analysis. To this end, we analyzed domestic and foreign patents on unmanned delivery robot technology filed up to July 2021, and classified them according to the technology classification system to present the outlook of unmanned delivery technology. The analysis showed that robots, drones, and unmanned delivery boxes, which combine IoT technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution based on last-mile delivery technology, are expanding their scope of use. In addition, the development of cooperative delivery services combining robots and drones is expected, and the differentiation of delivery costs between rapid delivery by drones and regular delivery by robots is expected. This paper is expected to raise awareness of unmanned delivery technology among related companies and researchers, and to serve as a reference for future research and development for efficient last-mile delivery

Non-resident patents, and knowledge spillovers: citation-based analysis for Indian firms

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of foreign patents on knowledge spillovers to domestic firms in India using patent citation data. It analyses a panel dataset of 250 Indian firms and 5309 patents granted by the U.S. Patent Office to Indian assignees between 1990 and 2016. The findings reveal a positive relationship between foreign patenting and knowledge flows from foreign patents to domestic firms. However, the study does not find any significant influence of TRIPS-related policy changes in 1998, 2002, and 2005 on knowledge spillovers. Additionally, firm-level characteristics such as size and patent stocks play a significant role in knowledge spillovers. The study emphasise that policy changes alone may not be sufficient to promote knowledge spillovers and underscores the importance of fostering innovation, enhancing the absorptive capacity of Indian firms, and raising awareness about the benefits of utilising patent documents for knowledge acquisition.

A game theory data science-based mechanism for licensed pharmaceutical products concerning their deterioration: a case of a micro, small, and medium enterprise in Iran.

One of the main characteristics of health systems and pharmaceutical supply chains is their significant costs in the public sector, which has forced governments and companies active in this field to find ways to reduce costs. In this paper, the deterioration of imported pharmaceutical items is investigated as one of the challenges of the supply chain of pharmaceutical firms. Specifically, the micro, small medium enterprise (MSME), and a collaborative strategy to reduce its costs is presented. The technical solution of the cooperative strategy is the formation of a partnership alliance between the foreign patent holder of brand drugs and a domestic manufacturer through an exclusive license contract in the local country. This leads to a significant reduction of costs in the distribution network of the pharmaceutical supply chain. On the other hand, supply chain management techniques in the cooperative strategy provide the necessary motivation for its practical implementation by splitting fair profits between producers and other members, namely local government, distributors, and pharmacies. For these purposes, a cooperative game theory-based contract is utilized to set the parameters of the license agreement, and then a profit-sharing mechanism is introduced that splits the benefits of cooperation among the supply chain members based on their afforded costs. The most important contribution of the current research is to propose an integrated framework that combines the logistics network models, valuation methods, and profit split mechanisms that embody more facts from real-world problems than separate models in this regard in previous studies. Moreover, results of the proposed strategy in the supply chain of a drug for thalassemia patients in Iran indicate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in reducing costs and deterioration. Further, it is shown that the higher the ordering costs of the imported drugs, the lower the market share of the patent holder, and the lower the financing expenses of the cooperative alliance, the more efficient is the proposed strategy.

Military Technology, Defense Spending and Modernization of the Armed Forces: The Case of Spain, 1891-1935

ABSTRACT A central aspect of the modernization of the armed forces is innovation in military technology, which in turn has been closely linked to defense spending. However, the connection between these variables has hardly been analyzed quantitatively. This is due, in part, to the scarcity of statistical data on military technology. This paper has constructed this indicator for the case of Spain based on patents registered in the country. This has allowed us to conduct a VAR model analysis to explore the relationship between defense spending and military technology and between the latter and the modernization of the armed forces from the late 19th century to the eve of the Civil War. Estimates have revealed that defense spending did not have a causal effect (in the Granger sense) on military patents, but there was a relationship in the opposite direction; that is, technological innovation preceded spending. In addition, it has been found that the patents that most influenced spending were foreign patents. On the other hand, there is evidence of a positive effect of military patents on the modernization of the armed forces, with foreign patents being the most influential in this case as well.

Scrutinizing the role of renewable energy and patents in pollution abatement and economic growth in South Korea

South Korea is considered one of the leading countries in innovation and research and development (R&D), in particular in renewable energy R&D efforts, but it is also one of the more polluting countries. So, understanding the interplay between these variables is of great interest. The main objective of this article is to examine the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, economic growth (GDP), renewable energy consumption (RE), foreign direct investment (FDI), home patents (HP), and foreign patents (FP) in South Korea using data ranging from 1980 to 2018. For this purpose, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach and Granger causality tests were employed. Estimates of long-run elasticity point to a positive relationship between GDP and CO2 emissions. FP and RE have a negative influence on CO2 emissions but they have a favorable effect on GDP. FDI and HP have positive impacts on CO2 emissions. Granger causality outcomes demonstrate that CO2 emissions, GDP, RE, and FP have long-term bidirectional causal relationships. In the short-run, there are unidirectional causalities running from FP and FDI to RE and from FDI and HP to GDP. Besides, there is a bidirectional causality between GDP and RE. South Korea should continue to promote renewable energies and facilitate the use of foreign patents, particularly those relating to renewable energies. This will lead to a reduction in its carbon emissions while benefiting its economic growth.

Special issue on all‐electric and hybrid‐electric flight

Special issue on all‐electric and hybrid‐electric flight