Old K says every week – talk about things in the petrochemical design industry. Post 20: Talking about those excessive patent applications
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This post was last edited by henglinkou on 2020-10-28 at 16:06. Post No. 20 in the series \"Lao K talks about things in the petrochemical design industry\": Talking about those excessive patent applications. Some people say that 90% of patents in China are worthless or redundant patents; although this statement is a bit extreme, it still reflects the actual situation to some extent. The proliferation of worthless patents and dead patents results in the waste of vast amounts of social and human resources. Today, the purposes of applying for patents are roughly as follows: 1. To genuinely protect intellectual property rights ； 2. To use this as a pretext to apply for **funding or subsidies ； 3. To make public claims and boast about it ； 4. For a graduation certificate or professional title certificate. The latter three situations are the sources of a large number of junk patents and zombie patents. To take an extreme example: a listed company in China has an intellectual property department dedicated to patent management. One of the key tasks in this area is patent prospecting – finding ways to increase the number of patents in order to meet the company’s requirements; applying for patents is treated as a task that must be completed. One of the company’s doctors applied for over 90 patents in one year, and one really has to admire this person’s ability to write patent applications – on average, he submitted one patent application every 3 working days. The company has applied for over a thousand patents in total. Due to reckless expansion, poor management, and too much focus on theoretical matters, the company is now heavily in debt, its stock has been delisted, and it can no longer even afford to pay patent fees. The conceptualization of patent applications mainly takes place in research institutions, and a similar phenomenon now exists in the design industry as well. To be honest, as an engineering company that focuses on engineering design and general contracting, its main activity is project implementation, so there are still very few technologies for which patents can be applied. There are reasons for the excessive number of patent applications, mainly due to some unreasonable policies, including those regarding the allocation of research funding and the evaluation of professional titles. To improve this phenomenon, **policy guidance is needed to optimize the allocation of research funds and the policies for professional title evaluation. For enterprises, it is necessary to adopt a pragmatic approach: apply for patents only when there are core technologies that truly require intellectual property protection, and not use patents merely as a tool for promotion and recognition. Lao K says every week – talking about things in the petrochemical design industry. For previous posts, please see the links below: Post 1: The development history of China’s survey and design industry https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3031149-1-1.html Post 2: **Management of the survey and design industry** https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3036417-1-1.html Post 3: The development of drawing techniques in design institutes https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3039960-1-1.html Post 4: The evolution of professional division of labor in petrochemical design institutes https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3045261-1-1.html Post 5: The organizational structure of petrochemical engineering companies https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3050591-1-1.html Post 6: Contract management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3054762-1-1.html Post 7: Management of basic design data in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3058184-1-1.html Post 8: Quality management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3061718-1-1.html Post 9: Schedule management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3062161-1-1.html Post 10: Document management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3069580-1-1.html Post 11: Meeting management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3073327-1-1.html Post 12: Bonus distribution management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3077492-1-1.html Post 13: The construction process for petrochemical projects https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3082708-1-1.html Post 14: Illustrations of the content and procedures involved in process design https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3086849-1-1.html Post 15: Explanations regarding PID versions and PID modification management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3091076-1-1.html Post 16: Common energy-inefficient designs in the petrochemical industry https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3095859-1-1.html Post 17: Project work breakdown https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3100837-1-1.html Post 18: Issues related to the training of design professionals https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3105529-1-1.html Post 19: An overview of pump net positive suction head https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3109916-1-1.html
There are many purposes for 2 and 3. There is another purpose: to make slight modifications to advanced foreign technologies (or relatively advanced technologies, or well-known technologies whose protection period has expired) and apply for domestic patents. It is impossible to apply for a patent abroad for such a patent; it is something that cannot be made public.
In some companies, the first person to file a patent application is always the chairman or general manager, who takes all the credit for themselves. It is called a company invention (an invention made while employed), and the profits generated by the patent have nothing to do with the actual inventor.
This post was last edited by Qingcheng Jun on 2020-10-28 at 17:24. The purpose of corporate patents is, in over 90% of cases, for 2 or 3 reasons. The example given in the question is a bit far-fetched; the failure of this company was due to poor fundamental conditions, and it had nothing to do with patents. Patent fees are merely a small amount of money. The capital chain is crucial for a company’s survival. Patents can bring advantages in terms of taxes and approval processes, they can increase a company’s valuation, and they can be used as collateral to obtain cash – all of which are very useful for a company’s development. Unless the company is of too low a standard to make use of patents, the first step is to file a patent application, the second step is approval, and the third step is grant of the patent. Reaching the second stage requires a certain level of skill. It’s really impressive to be able to have 90 applications approved per year by an individual; however, there’s nothing special about copying one poor-quality patent and submitting 10 versions of it
The patents of the vast majority of companies are merely for show, intended to be displayed to outsiders and managers as proof that they are high-tech enterprises； Then there’s the issue of technical personnel seeking professional titles – you just need to pay money to get it done
High-tech enterprises are useful in product promotion, tax reductions, and simplifying administrative procedures. Patents can’t be obtained just by paying money either; it’s more difficult to get approval these days than before
Over 90% of the purpose of corporate patents is for 2 out of 3 reasons. The example given in the question is a bit far-fetched; the failure of this company was due to poor fundamental conditions, and it had nothing to do with patents. Patent fees are merely a small amount of money. The capital chain is crucial for a company’s survival. Patents can bring advantages in terms of taxes and approval processes, they can increase a company’s valuation, and they can be used as collateral to obtain cash – all of which are very useful for a company’s development. Unless the company is of too low a standard to make use of patents, the first step is to file a patent application, the second step is approval, and the third step is grant of the patent. Reaching the second stage requires a certain level of skill; it’s really impressive to be able to have 90 applications approved per year. But it’s not that impressive if one just copies a poor-quality patent and submits 10 versions of it. That’s not quite right. The original meaning includes the costs of various steps such as preparing a patent, submitting it for review, and making modifications, and not just a small fee for the patent.
Over 90% of the purpose of corporate patents is for 2 out of 3 reasons. The example given in the question is a bit far-fetched; the failure of this company was due to poor fundamental conditions, and it had nothing to do with patents. Patent fees are merely a small amount of money. The capital chain is crucial for a company’s survival. Patents can bring advantages in terms of taxes and approval processes, they can increase a company’s valuation, and they can be used as collateral to obtain cash – all of which are very useful for a company’s development. Unless the company is of too low a standard to make use of patents, the first step is to file a patent application, the second step is approval, and the third step is grant of the patent. Reaching the second stage requires a certain level of skill; it’s really impressive to be able to have 90 applications approved per year. But it’s not that impressive if one just copies a poor-quality patent and submits 10 versions of it. That’s not quite right. The original meaning includes the costs of various steps such as preparing a patent, submitting it for review, and making modifications, and not just a small fee for the patent.
That statement is incorrect. The original meaning includes a range of costs associated with having all employees work on patents, such as labor costs, rent, and office expenses, in addition to just the patent fees themselves.
Implement policies for each stage; which policy is flawless and does not lead to waste? The reform and opening-up policy has also led to the loss of a certain amount of state-owned assets; **has encouraging technological development given rise to many fraudulent subsidy-seeking projects as well? One should not reject greater achievements due to certain drawbacks when the conditions are not yet ripe