Research On The Patent Risk Factors Of Chinese Enterprises In The U.S. Market

China is the largest developing country while the U.S. is the largest developedcountry. The volume of China-U.S. bilateral trade topped US$1000billion in2003. Inrecent years, great progress has been made by the trade between China and U.S., Thevolume of trade keeps rising every year and the trade connection of the two sides becomesmore and more tight. However, the patent risk of Chinese enterprises in the U.S. marketincreased in recent years. The patent litigation and337investigations are the mostcommon manifestation of patent risk in the U.S. market. The patent risk has been theAchilles heel of the Chinese companies that operate in the U.S. market. Why did Chinesecompanies frequently subjected to patent risk in the U.S. market? What are some specificpatent risk factors? Can we identify the patent risk factors and conduct quantitativeresearch? This thesis focuses on those patent risk factors which affect the Chineseenterprises growth in the United States market.First of all, this thesis depicts a general view of the patent risk of Chineseenterprises in the U.S. market and lays the foundation for the patent risk factorsidentification and evaluation research. The patent risk Chinese encountered usually arisesfrom the China’s trade surplus with the U.S. and the U.S. patent system. Therefore, thisthesis proposes a new concept of the patent risk of Chinese enterprises in the U.S market.It defines the patent risk of Chinese enterprises in U.S. market as the multifold gaps–including patent resources, enterprise’ behavior and the patent system–between Chineseenterprises and overseas enterprises, can make business into patent litigation or337investigation, that could either affect the current profitability or cause the permanentdestruction of the potential for future development.Secondly, this thesis identifies the patent risk factors from the patent characteristicperspective. Based on the patent issues, the thesis divides the patent characteristic intointrinsic trait and acquire trait. Comparing the litigated patent and un-litigated patents thisthesis finds that the risk associated with an individual patent depends not only on theintrinsic traits of the issued patents but also the acquired characteristics obtained in the post-issuance patent events.Thirdly, this thesis provides the first look at patent risk factors from the companybehavior perspective. Divided the patent disputes into four stages: acquiesce, settlement,filing and deter, a patent dispute dynamic model established. Then, the empirical analyzereveals that Chinese enterprises face dramatically increase hazards of litigation in U.Smarket when prospective plaintiff acquire more patents and when firms are larger andtechnological close. The patent litigation is more likely when prospective defendantsinvest more in R&D.Fourthly, This paper conducts a deeply analysis of the2011Patent Reform Act (theLeahy-Smith American Invents Act), which represents the most significant reform of thePatent Act in nearly60years, was signed into law by the President Obama on September16,2011. The thesis is not an introduction to the U.S patent system, but analyzes andidentifies the patent risk factors from the perspective of patent policy system. It revealsthat the new regulations in patent application, patent examination and patent protection arethe critical parameters in Chinese Companies operate in the U.S. market.Finally, this thesis structures an evaluation model of patent risk of Chineseenterprises in the U.S. market. The efficiency indicators including three aspects, the patentcharacteristics, the company behavior and2011U.S. patent reform bill. This thesisestablishes a patent risk quantitative assessment model from the perspectives of theinfluence degree, uncertainty and controllability. A realistic case study shows theapplication process and significant of the evaluation model. It proves that this model canevaluate the patent risk of single enterprise and multiple enterprises. In addition, the modelcan compare the differences of patent risk of evaluated objects.