21st Century Business Herald: Sany Heavy Industry's Overseas Patent Protection "Offensive and Defensive"

Source: 21st Century Business Herald

Core tip: Chen Luchang said that the risk management of patents mainly refers to understanding the local legal system, investigating the special projects that may cause risks in the market of the country before the product enters the market of the exporting country, and intervening in the R&D and production links.

"Sany has always integrated business development, technology research and development and intellectual property management, and at present, the group is making efforts in internationalization, and overseas patent protection is becoming more and more important." Chen Luchang, director of the Intellectual Property Department of Sany Heavy Industry, told the 21st Century Business Herald.

As the top three domestic and top ten leading enterprises in the construction machinery market share, Sany Heavy Industry's internationalization speed has increased again in the past year. According to the report of listed companies, in the first half of 2014, Sany International's performance has accounted for nearly one-third of the company's overall sales performance. At the end of 2014, He Dongdong, vice president of Sany Group, said that he hoped that overseas sales would grow to more than 50% in recent years.

At the same time as the rapid growth of products, the expansion of Sany's overseas patent field is also quite rapid. According to the company's website, as of September 31, 2014, Sany has applied for a total of 8,028 Chinese patents, including 3,320 invention patents, 393 PCT international patent applications and 207 overseas patents. It has been authorized 5,554 domestic patents and 29 overseas patents. According to the November 2014 Thomson Reuters report on the intellectual property rights of Chinese enterprises, Sany is undoubtedly among the top 10 overseas patent applications of Chinese enterprises.
Chen Luchang said that Sany's own technology research and development level has laid a solid foundation for overseas intellectual property management.

According to the data, Sany spends 5%-7% of its sales revenue on R&D every year. Overseas, Sany has four major R&D and manufacturing bases in India, the United States, Germany and Brazil. At present, the group's business has covered more than 100 countries and regions around the world.

"Sany Overseas R&D and Production Center is partly responsible for the direct transfer of technology developed in China to overseas, and overseas intellectual property rights are also involved in this field." Chen Luchang said that from the perspective of intellectual property protection, there are obvious differences in patent strategies between developed countries and emerging markets.

From the perspective of developed markets, as early as 2009, the trademark battle between Sany and Mercedes-Benz was won overseas, and the British High Court ruled in favor of Sany, rejecting Daimler-Benz's lawsuit against Sany for infringing its Trident Star trademark. This case has played a huge exemplary role in the overseas expansion of Chinese enterprises and established confidence in the collective expedition of the Chinese Legion overseas.

Chen Luchang said that in the developed markets of the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia, due to the strict relevant laws, intellectual property management is the application and maintenance of patents and trademarks on the one hand, and risk analysis and advance management on the other hand.

Chen Luchang said that the risk management of patents mainly refers to understanding the local legal system before the product enters the market of the exporting country, investigating the special projects that may have risks in the market of the country, and intervening in the R&D and production links.

In 2008, Sany Heavy IndustrycraneOn the eve of participating in the Bauma exhibition in Germany, in addition to applying for patents, Sany's intellectual property department sent personnel to investigate the local product patent situation, and found the parts of the appearance and interior design that may encounter patent risks in the preliminary investigation, and proposed a modification plan. Half an hour after receiving the application letter from the local company about patent infringement, the intellectual property department immediately submitted a legal declaration of non-infringement to the local court according to the original plan, which was recognized by the court.

"In relatively developed countries such as Brazil and India, we are actively pursuing patent applications." Chen Luchang said that the total number of patent applications in India has doubled in previous years, while the number of patent applications in Brazil has achieved a breakthrough of zero.

For the extensive Middle East and North Africa markets of Sany Heavy Industry, due to the extremely imperfect local laws, the core problem of Sany, as the first pioneer of machinery manufacturing, is not to be sued for patent infringement, but to establish an early warning system to prevent the risk of infringement.

Chen Luchang said that Sany Heavy Industry has established a series of complete intellectual property management systems, including the "Patent Management Measures", "R&D Project Patent and Innovation Assessment Rules", "Domestic and Foreign Patent Application Process", "Patent Analysis Specifications", "Rights Protection Business Management System", etc., Chen Luchang believes that the "Patent Management Measures" represent the beginning of Sany's patent business and thus form a system.