Chinese patent applications at the EPO - investigation into filing patterns and motives from the examiner's perspective
by Manfred Bruckmayer
International Journal of Intellectual Property Management (IJIPM), Vol. 9, No. 1, 2016

Abstract: This study examines filing patterns and strategic motives of Chinese applicants to file at the European Patent Office (EPO). For the study, a new methodology is employed which uses a viewpoint from inside a patent office: filing patterns of Chinese patent applications have been explored by conducting interviews with patent examiners; these patterns were compared to empirically known patterns of filing motives. Based on these results, two types of Chinese applicants are hypothesised in the technical fields investigated, namely newcomers and global challengers. Newcomers are small and medium sized enterprises, universities and research organisations or individuals. For newcomers, a filing pattern pointing to motives of preventing imitation and, under certain assumptions, signalling, is found. The global challengers are multinational companies, operating in telecommunications and computing. For global challengers, motives of preventing imitation and, under certain assumptions, exchange motives, such as cross-licensing or licensing, are suggested.

Online publication date: Tue, 04-Oct-2016

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Intellectual Property Management (IJIPM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com