中国农业专利的质量:基于不同申请时期、申请主体和技术领域的比较

Patent Quality in China’s Agricultural Sector: A Comparison Across Different Filing Periods, Applicants and Technology Fields

【目的】研究专利数量飞涨背景下不同申请时期、申请主体和技术领域的中国农业专利质量及其变化趋势。【方法】以中国1985—2010年受理的全部农业专利为样本,利用统计和计量经济模型分析发明专利申请率、发明专利授权率、授权发明专利失效率、专利维持时间等质量指标。【结果】中国与国外农业发明专利授权率在统计上没有显著差异,但是国外的平均维持时间显著更长。在0.01置信水平下,中国公共研究部门(大学、科研机构)与企业、个人相比,发明专利授权的概率显著更高,但维持专利的概率却显著低于企业。时间趋势变量的系数估计值表明,中国农业发明专利的授权和维持状况自2001年起有明显改善。【结论】尽管中国农业专利质量总体不如国外,但近年来已有显著提高,尤其以农业生物技术最为突出。大学、科研机构作为中国农业专利的申请主体,申请质量显著高于企业和个人,但"重申请轻维持"的现象比企业严重。中国今后应引导和规范农业科教单位的专利申请动机,鼓励和支持专利技术的转化实施。

[ Objective ] The study aims to investigate the change in patent quality across different filing periods, applicants and technology fields in China＇s agricultural sector when the volume of patent filings rose dramatically. [Method] Using the total agricultural patents filed in China as a sample, the paper employs statistical and econometric models to examine invention patent ratios, invention patent grant ratios, grant lapse ratios and patent maintenance period. [ Result ] There is no significant difference in grant ratio between domestic applications and foreign applications, but foreign grants are maintained longer than domestic counterparts. At the 0.01 significance level, for domestic applicants, the invention grant ratio of domestic public sector organizations （e.g. research institutes, universities） is a bit higher than that of companies and individuals＇ ones; however the probability of renewing patent is significantly smaller than that of companies. The coefficients of time dummies show that both the invention grant ratio and renewal probability of domestic filings are on the rise in recent years. [ Conclusion ] It is found that, the quality of Chinese domestic filings has been improved significantly in recent years although it still falls behind that of foreign filings. Particularly the progress in agro-biotechnology is the most striking. Public sectors organizations （universities and public agricultural research institutions） dominate the patenting activities in the agricultural sector and they have a better patent quality than private applicants （companies and individuals）, however, most of university patents lapse rapidly in the first three years. The main policy implication is that government should guide and regulate the filing motives of public sector organizations and promote the transfer of agricultural patents from public sector to private sector.