广东省智能家电出口面临的知识产权贸易壁垒及应对策略

Intellectual Property Trade Barriers and Coping Strategies During the Export of Smart Home Appliances in Guangdong Province

面对国际形势的变化、区域合作深入以及对外开放的新要求,系统研究广东省智能家电出口遭遇知识产权贸易壁垒的应对现状、问题和对策。通过梳理分析2010—2021年广东省智能家电企业在出口过程中涉知识产权贸易调查和诉讼纠纷案例发现,企业面临的知识产权贸易壁垒主要包括通过启动知识产权调查达到贸易遏制效应的美国“337调查”,企业间通过滥用专利权达到争夺市场份额、获取商业利益,以及通过恶意抢注商标域名以阻碍中国智能家电企业进入海外市场等;而中国企业在应对识产权贸易壁垒过程中,存在着海外维权成本高、专利许可谈判处于弱势地位、企业知识产权管理意识薄弱以及中小企业应对能力有限等四大问题。根据研究发现,提出建立政府、协会、企业、第三方服务机构四位一体的知识产权贸易壁垒应对机制的对策建议。

On the basis of the changing international situation, the deepening of regional cooperation and the new requirements of opening up, this paper systematically studies the response status, problems and countermeasures related to intellectual property trade barriers of Guangdong’s smart home appliance enterprises. It analyzes the intellectual property related investigations and litigation disputes involving smart home appliance enterprises in Guangdong province from 2010 to 2021 and categorizes them into three types, including Section 337 Investigation, an initiating intellectual property investigation conducted by the USITC to impede the normal trade of foreign products in domestic market, patent abuse to compete for market share and commercial interests, and malicious trademark and domain name registration to hinder Chinese smart home appliance enterprises from entering overseas markets. Accordingly,Chinese smart home appliance enterprises are faced with four major obstacles when dealing with the above barriers:high costs, being at a disadvantage in patent licensing negotiations, lack of intellectual property management, and SMEs’ incapability to tackle such barriers. In response to the problems above, it suggests that a coping mechanism should be jointly established by governments, industry associations, enterprises and third-party service agencies.