Intellectual Property Protection New Field of Battle for Automotive Enterprises Competition

“China has promoted the protection of intellectual property rights as a national strategy.” At the opening ceremony of the Summer Davos Forum held on September 13, Premier Wen Jiabao made the above statement. In the following two months, Premier Wen Jiabao held two consecutive meetings and decided to launch special operations to crack down on infringements of intellectual property rights and the production and sale of fake and shoddy goods, and personally mobilized and deployed them.

During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, China's economy is faced with a tough battle to adjust the industrial structure and change the mode of development. Protecting intellectual property rights is one of the important contents of improving independent innovation capabilities and creating an innovative country. The automotive industry, as an important pillar industry in China and a representative industry in advanced manufacturing, has a long way to go in protecting intellectual property.

Not long ago, disputes between Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Red Sun Co. Jianghuai Automotive received the final judgment of the Supreme People's Court of Anhui, and determined that the trademarks of Jianghuai Automobile did not constitute infringement on the trademarks of Dayun Motor.

In recent years, the intellectual property disputes in China's auto industry have been unresolved and have begun to rise again. This has always reminded Chinese auto companies to increase their awareness of intellectual property protection. Under the premise of intellectual property integration and internationalization, China’s auto companies have paid a heavy price for intellectual property disputes, and the competition of global auto companies in the intellectual property field has become increasingly fierce.

In March of this year, Nanjing Automobile Group won a lawsuit in foreign intellectual property litigation. The High Court of the United Kingdom made the first instance ruling that MG’s trademark and labeling rights were owned by Nanjing Automobile Group and another British company ceased to use the trademark. China's auto companies, such as Nanjing Automobile, are rarely seen as winning intellectual property lawsuits overseas. They usually lose more than they win. In the process of “going global” by domestic auto companies, it is particularly critical to strengthen the ability to create, use, protect, and manage intellectual property.

China's auto industry will change from big to strong, and it will surely “go global” at a faster pace and take a place in the international market. In the process, one of the major obstacles faced is intellectual property barriers. Japan’s Toyota sued Geely for “Geely’s alleged trademark infringement and unfair competition”. US General Motors sued Chery’s QQ design infringement cases, which are worthy of attention by domestic auto companies. With more and more foreign infringement disputes, it is imperative for companies to establish a global patent strategy analysis platform and patent early warning platform.

"Product is not moving, patent first" is a sophisticated competitive strategy for multinational companies. Multinational companies entering China rely on their advantages in research and development and are skilled in the use of international conventions and relevant laws and regulations. They apply for a large number of patents in China, actively “scratch around”, seize the high ground of patents through extensive patent coverage, and suppress Chinese companies’ technology research and development and patent applications. To reduce the potential competitiveness of Chinese companies. At the same time, multinational corporations actively participate in, influence or even control the standardization work of international standards organizations, infiltrating their patents into international standards, and occupying high-end locations of the industrial chain to obtain huge profits, thereby squeezing the survival space of Chinese enterprises in the international market. .

In this regard, Wu Handong, director of the Intellectual Property Research Center of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, believes that Chinese companies are facing a new environment for the internationalization of intellectual property protection. The quantity and quality of intellectual property have become the core competitiveness of today's enterprises. Therefore, it is necessary to use intellectual property as a design enterprise. The reference point of the operating model is to establish a system that includes the intellectual property import strategy and management strategy to protect and manage intellectual property rights.

Wu Handong said that the enhancement of the company's core competitiveness depends on the company's technological innovation and brand use, and the key is to build a comprehensive intellectual property strategy system. In recent years, a series of disputes between foreign companies and Chinese companies on intellectual property issues show that Chinese companies have not paid sufficient attention to properly handling intellectual property matters and protecting intellectual property rights in the new international competition environment.

Prof. Li Shunde, Director of the Department of Law and Intellectual Property of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the era of Chinese auto companies “going to the world” has come. The government should strengthen guidance and training for enterprises so that enterprises can plan ahead in the process of “going out”. In the protection of intellectual property rights, dealing with intellectual property disputes no longer detours.

A person in charge of the intellectual property department of a car company told the reporter that many companies have accumulated some experience in the process of “going out”, but these experiences have been summed up from lessons learned. It is best for the government department to give some help to the enterprises and guide the enterprises to plan ahead and make preparations as early as possible.