China's New Antitrust Rules Aim To Blunt Foreign Patent Threat
from the do-as-you-would-be-done-by dept
For years, the West -- particularly the US -- has been complaining about China's "lack of respect" for patents. And for years, Techdirt has been pointing out that China is actually a big fan of patents: its companies have been building up their own patent hoards at a rapid pace, and starting to deploy them against Western competitors. A report on Bloomberg Business explores how the Chinese government is also seeking to neutralize the threat of patents being used against its own manufacturers through the introduction of new antitrust rules:
The clampdown on patents has the potential to alter the balance of power in the global mobile-phone industry, which generated $412 billion last year, according to IDC. These new rules may weaken the ability of Apple, Microsoft Corp. and Qualcomm -- typically among the top 15 U.S. patent recipients each year -- to compete in China, the world's largest mobile-phone market, and other countries that follow.
There are two main elements to China's new policy, both of which will make it harder for Western companies to use key patents against Chinese competitors:
One involves patent values for technology included in industry standards, such as Wi-Fi. The other may require unique features -- like Apple’s slide-to-unlock feature, or Microsoft software that synchronizes calendars -- to be licensed by others if considered "dominant" or “essential.”
As the Bloomberg Business article rightly points out:
The Chinese ... are just formalizing what 100 years of legal precedent has done in the U.S. and Europe, and a lot will depend on how the governments implement the rules, antitrust lawyers said.
In other words, China will soon be "respecting" patents just as much as its Western counterparts -- and doubtless deploying them just as aggressively for competitive advantage.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: antitrust, china, competition, patents
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
slide-to-unlock feature
Slide-to-unlock is unique rather than obvious? Yeah, right.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Blowback!!!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chances are, there will be an upside to this: outsourcing corporations may well elect to manufacture goods back home, where jobs are needed.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Beware!
[ link to this | view in thread ]