Auto Multinationals’Patent Strategies For Chinese Market And Native Chinese Auto Companies’ Counter-strategies

With continuous and remarkable growth rate in car sales, China has now become themost important market for auto multinationals. Before entering Chinese market, they haveformulated sound comprehensive patent strategies particularly designed for China. NativeChinese auto companies, resulting from the facts of being a latecomer, inadequate patentsensitivity and low standards of patent management, are at a disadvantage in patentcompetition with foreign competitors.Via processing a considerable collection of auto patent data gathered, the articlepresents analyses as well as comparisons of the features of patent applications submittedby auto multinationals, native auto makers and their joint ventures, in regard to quantities,categories and related technical areas. Beyond, it points out why native auto industry lagsbehind on this front. The article further sums up the characters in the patent strategies ofauto multinationals. For example, they exploit as many fundamental patents as possible bymaking the most of their upper hands in resources. They manipulate the numbers ofpatents belonging or licensed to their joint ventures in China while are poised to bringpatent-related suits against any infringement of their patents. Their greed for patent turnsthe research and development of new-energy-propelled vehicles into a fierce contest.Exemplified by Toyota, the article analyzes different parts of multinationals’ currentstrategies, including basics, group application of linked inventions and litigation. All ofthem are designed to suppress native auto companies’ implementation of their strategiccommitment to innovation initiative. Still, it dissects the consequences of these strategiesin respect of both beneficial and adverse implications. Moreover, the article analyzes themacro situation of native Chinese auto industry with the help of PEST (Political,Economic, Social and Technological environment) model, puts forward countermeasuresaiming to win future market against all present odds. Among them are integratedapplications of the methods that may be used to nullify the patents of contenders,utilization of lapsed patents, etc.