Artificial intelligence and patents in Brazil: Overview on patentability and comparative study on patent filings

Innovations related to artificial intelligence (AI) can impact many technological fields and gather attention of several sectors from industry. Brazil is a developing country with a large territory and consumer market, attracting investment from foreign companies, including AI technologies. In the present work, we carry out a review of the Brazilian IP Law, Guidelines and Resolutions regarding patentability of AI inventions in Brazil, and also perform comparative analyses with the guidelines from the EPO and USPTO. Then, patent searches are carried out to analyze filing indicators of patent applications for AI inventions, wherein it is possible to verify that most of the filing applicants in Brazil are foreign companies, mainly from the US. Brazilian entities, which rank second overall in filing for patent applications in Brazil, do not even appear among the main applicants for AI inventions. We conclude that Brazil is not a competitive country in the production of patents related to AI, and it is important for Brazil to establish some degree of legal certainty regarding patent protection for AI inventions and disseminate knowledge about protecting such inventions by patents, so that inventors opt to disclose their AI inventions instead of keeping them as a trade secret. Therefore, more and more sectors of society might benefit from innovations arising from AI.     

基于专利分析的袋包装技术

目的分析近30年国内外袋包装技术专利的发展态势和专利特点,提出产业发展建议。方法通过Incopat数据库检索1985—2015年袋包装技术专利,采用专利分析方法解读袋包装技术领域的国内外申请态势、国家分布等,分析国内外重点申请人的专利发展特点,掌握中国申请人的区域分布情况。结果袋包装技术国外专利发展平缓,中国专利申请量近年来发展十分迅猛,全球专利申请人前10位虽然是国外企业,但优势不明显;已有中国企业在个别技术分支中进入10强。结论针对分析的情况,建议政府管理部门引导资金扶持,推动建立产业联盟,使中国企业的技术实力和市场竞争力进一步提升。     

Chinese patent applications reach six figures in 1996

Since the Chinese Patent Office started accepting patent applications on 1 April 1985, the yearly patent application number has increased steadily, although a sluggish period appeared later. The Office expected to reach the 100,000 year mark in the last year of the century, that also will be the end of the national “Ninth Five-year Plan” period. However, the promotion of science and technology and the sustained and rapid economic growth in the country have shown China to be a huge potential market, and this has contributed to a recent sharp increase in patent applications both from home and abroad. The number of applications filed in 1996 reached 102,735, 23.7% higher than the total number of 83,044 made in 1995. Of the 1996 applications, 80% came from domestic applicants and 20% were of foreign origin. The Chinese Patent Office granted 43,780 patents in the same year. A faster examination process of better quality and a more efficient overall administration procedure were scheduled at the Patent Office in order to cope with the new challenge.     

国外颠覆性技术识别方法浅析

颠覆性技术另辟蹊径,对已有传统或主流技术途径产生颠覆性效果,具有极大的应用前景,各国均积极对颠覆性技术进行识别与早期培育。本文梳理了一些国外政府机构、智库、情报机构、咨询公司、高校、专利分析机构等发布的典型技术识别研究报告,对其中的颠覆性技术识别方法进行了归纳、分析与评价,以期为我国开展相应的颠覆性技术识别方法研究提供借鉴。     

Blockchain breeding grounds: Asia's advance over the USA and Europe

Blockchain is argued to disrupt almost every industry and research field. Among other technologies, it contributes to the next fourth industrial revolution. While prominent technologies, such as AI and IoT, have already proven their potential and value in many applications, Blockchain applications have gathered only limited appeal. We ask, which countries drive inventive activity in Blockchain and to which magnitude and type. Using worldwide Blockchain patent applications from 2009 to 2020 as inventive outcome indicators the National Breeding Ground (NBG) index and the International Breeding Ground (IBG) index are calculated. The NBG index is related to the interest of a country to file Blockchain patents in its domestic market. The IBG index is related to the interest of a country to file and exploit Blockchain patents in foreign markets. We observe China and the USA as strong national and international breeding grounds. In particular, Asian countries drive Blockchain inventions. European countries contribute marginally to the Blockchain patent landscape and, together with the USA, are losing ground to Asia. Comparisons to prior work on Blockchain patenting and research patterns partially reflect our results. However, comparisons to AI suggest different patenting and exploitation strategies for Blockchain and AI in China.     

Foreign applications at the Japan Patent Office - An empirical analysis of selected growth factors

This article aims to evaluate some of the possible factors which could have had a significant role in the increase in the yearly number of foreign patent applications at the Japan Patent Office. The analysed period ranges from 1991 to 2005. In the years considered, foreign applications increased constantly while the number of domestic filings remained almost the same or even decreased. The increase is more striking when compared to analogous figures of the US Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office, where the corresponding ratio did not change too much in the same period. Building on previous literature, this paper analyses the impact of some macroeconomic and structural characteristics of the extending countries, on one side, and, on the other side, some features specific to the receiving country and its Patent Office (here Japan and the JPO). This work tries to capture the relevance of such drivers in the increased amount of foreign patent applications at the JPO.     

Patent applications as source for measuring technological performance

S-curves analysis allows to study evolution and trends in specific technological fields; its theoretical background establishes that in order to achieve the best results the analysis must be done using an independent variable that shows the effort invested in R&D activities and a dependent variable that shows the cumulative performance in that field. Actually, S-curves are built using time as independent variable because of the constraints associated in the search of investment data. This paper examines the use of patent data applications as a sample of effort; using geothermal field as a case study, it was possible to test the relationship of Patent applications and investment (R-squared, 0.86), in first place, and the construction of S-curves using patent applications count against performance (R-Squared, 0.947). Results show a high correspondence value and potential of using patent counts to direct technological performance studies.     

Patent predictive price-to-book ratio (PB) on improving investment performance -- Evidence in China

Patent is strongly meaningful for most countries’ technology development and economy growth. China is the world largest patent application country and has the world No.2 stock market. In this research, China listed companies (A-shares) in Shanghai main board, Shenzhen main board, GE board, and SME board from 2016 to 2018 were applied to discuss the prediction ability of patent indicators to financial performance. The patent prediction equations for quantitatively predicting the price-to-book ratio (PB) by patent indicators were constructed via Granger Causality test and time series regression. The stock selection criteria based on the patent predictive PB were further discussed. The traditional value investors consider stocks with PB values under 3.0 are undervalued. It was found that most stock portfolios selected by either the lower predictive PB or the higher predictive PB growth rate had higher performance above the traditional PB investment strategy. The criteria also worked well on GE board and SME board even though these stock boards were seriously impacted to decline by the China-US trade conflict. Though the overall economic environment fluctuated, the patent prediction algorithm proposed was proved to be useful to discover good stock portfolios and improve traditional PB investment strategy     

Validating the usefulness of examiners’ forward citations from the viewpoint of applicants’ self-selection during the patent application procedure

In this study, we validated the usefulness of examiners’ forward citations, especially from the viewpoint of the applicants’ self-selection (ASS) decisions during the patent application procedure. We believe that the ASS in an early stage would be decided by a potential-value comparison among patent applications. We focused on six self-selection decision points of the applicants: whether to file patent applications in foreign countries, request for examination, request for accelerated examination, reply to a notification of reasons for refusal, appeal after receiving a decision of refusal, and register after receiving a decision to grant a patent as patent value parameters. We found that application groups that selected “Yes” have a significantly larger number of examiners’ forward citations than groups that selected “No” at all decision points. In addition, we confirmed that applications that were finally granted and those that were renewed for a full term after grant have a significantly large number of examiners’ forward citations. We concluded that the number of examiners’ forward citations would be a useful indicator of the potential value of patent applications in macroscopic analysis.     

纳米级橡胶新材料的制备及其应用

主要论述了纳米级粉末橡胶包括丁苯橡胶、羧基丁苯橡胶、丁腈橡胶、羧基丁腈橡胶、丙烯酸酯橡胶、丁吡橡胶等的制备技术,并探讨了此类纳米橡胶在热塑性塑料改性、热固性塑料改性和热塑性弹性体方面的应用技术。此技术已申报了23项中国发明专利、6项美国专利,其中申请美国的母专利已授权USP。     

标准必要专利许可费中Top-Down方法探析

5G(第5代移动通信技术)进入商用元年,随着物联网的广泛应用和产业化,更多的市场主体需要获得5G标准必要专利许可,标准必要专利许可费纠纷将会逐渐增加,标准必要专利许可费是FRAND原则的核心问题之一。本文结合我国和域外司法实践探讨确定标准必要专利许可费中的"Top-Down"(自上而下法),分析其内涵、司法适用情况和总专利许可费确定问题,以期对标准必要专利诉讼中法院裁决许可费率问题提供参考。     

政府研发补贴与企业创新投入:数量激励抑或质量导向?

如何有效发挥政府“有形之手”对企业创新的激励作用,优化公共资源配置效率,是实施创新驱动战略和推动经济高质量发展的关键一环。基于2001-2017年中国非金融类A股上市公司面板数据,用研发投资衡量创新投入数量,用专利产出衡量创新投入转化质量,从理论上分析政府研发补贴对企业创新投入数量和投入转化质量的作用机制,并采用固定效应模型、联立方程模型等进行实证检验。结果发现:第一,政府研发补贴能够显著提高企业研发投资额,表明政府补贴对企业创新投入存在数量激励,同时,企业研发投资对专利产出具有显著正向影响,增加创新投入资金数量是确保投入转化质量的必要非充分条件;第二,在控制内生性后,政府研发补贴对企业专利产出具有不显著负向影响,表明政府研发补贴未能形成创新投入质量导向;第三,在政府干预程度较低、法治水平较好的情况下,政府研发补贴能够同时提升企业研发投资与专利产出,证实寻租行为、逆向选择行为和缺乏政府监管等是政府补贴无法有效发挥投入质量导向作用的潜在原因。     

Effects of patent policy on innovation outputs and commercialization: evidence from universities in China

As the important source of scientific and technological innovation in China, the improvement of productivity from the patent commercialization in universities and research institutes is of great significance to the promotion of China’s sustainable economic development. Despite the quantity of patent applications from universities has increased dramatically in recent years, the rate of patent commercialization is somewhat lower than we expect. The purpose of our study is to examine whether the incentive patent policy has effectively enhanced the patent outputs and commercialization of universities in China. We determine the specific patent policy based on the information collection and measure the specific effect of the patent policy by using the data of the 64 universities that were directly under the Ministry of Education from 2009 to 2015. As a result, we find that although the policy has increased a university’s patent output, it does not encourage the patent’s commercialization. This is because to a certain extent, the policy has a negative impact on the enthusiasm of the university patent commercialization. Therefore, we argue that patent policies focusing on the quantity in the short term can improve the innovation output but will have a negative impact on university’s sustainable development in the long run.     

Analysis of patenting trends of antifungal drugs in the product patent regime in India

The present study attempts to analyze the patenting activity of antifungal drugs in the pre and post TRIPS period in India. There is a general increase in patent filing in antifungals both by Indian as well as by multinational companies, with greater filing by the latter in the post-TRIPS era. The major filings in the transition and post-TRIPS period have been due to increased product than process patent filings, wherein 75% of the total patent applications in this sector is directed towards product patents and remaining 25% is directed towards process patents. It is observed that Indian academic institutions have been more active than foreign institutions with respect to patent filings in this field.     

世界电工钢专利现状分析

采用国家知识产权局的专利检索与服务系统,数据库采用德温特世界专利索引数据库,并以中国专利文献检索系统为补充,对世界电工钢专利文献进行采集,对电工钢专利申请的年度分布、主要技术、主要申请人、技术发展脉络等进行统计分析,并给出了专利对策和建议,以期能够揭示电工钢行业的专利发展趋势,帮助从业人员更好地利用专利这一技术工具,建立合理的专利布局,提高我国电工钢企业在国内和国际市场上的竞争能力。     

矿产勘查产业投资趋势分析

分析了国内外投资人在我国矿产勘查业的投资现状、趋势,总结出矿产勘查产业投资趋势及个人对矿产勘查投资趋向的选择观。     

The inventive activities and collaboration pattern of university–industry–government in China based on patent analysis

China’s economy and technology have experienced spectacular growth since the Opening-up Policy adopted in 1978. In order to explore the innovation process and development of China, this study examines the inventive activities and the collaboration pattern of university, industry and government (UIG) in China. This study analyzes the Chinese patent data retrieved from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Three models of UIG relations which represent different triple helix configurations are introduced. According to the property of patent assignee, patent ownership can be divided into three types: individuals, enterprises, and universities and research institutes. Furthermore, enterprises can be classified into state-owned enterprise (SOE), private-owned enterprise (POE) and foreign enterprise (FE). The corresponding relationship of patent ownership with UIG is set up. Through analyzing the issued year, it is found that the inventive activities of China have experienced three developmental phases and have been promoted quickly in recent years. The achievement of innovation activities in China primarily falls on the enterprise, especially FEs and POEs. The innovation strengths of the three development phases have shifted from government to university and research institute and then industry. According to co-patent analysis, it is found that the collaboration between university and industry is the strongest and has been intensified in recent years, but other forms of collaboration among UIG have been weak. In addition, an innovation relation model of China was set up. The evolution process of innovation systems was explored, from etatistic model, followed by improved “laissez-faire” model, and then shifting toward triple helix model.     

Using international patent data to identify and assess opportunities for technology acquisition from government research agencies

In today's environment of rapid technological change and global competition, it is becoming increasingly difficult for firms to keep up with the advances being made around the world in various high technology fields. This article illustrates how firms can make use of international patent data to identify and assess possible sources of new technology for acquisition, particularly government laboratories. The technological activities of eight French research agencies are assessed through quantitative analyses of the patent applications they filed during the 1980s. The aspects of their technological activities that are examined include: (1) the level and direction of technological activity, measured by counts of international patent families; (2) the technological significance of the work being performed, measured by the number of subsequent patent citations; and (3) the commercial potential of the work, measured by the number of foreign countries in which patent protection for the resulting inventions is sought. It is then shown how firms can interpret this data to identify the technological work of government laboratories that may be of interest for possible licensing or joint venture agreements.     

Patent activity on water pollution and treatment in China—a scientometric perspective

This research intends to investigate the patent activity on water pollution and treatment in China (1985–2007), and then compares the results with patents data about Triadic patents, South Korea, Brazil and India over the same periods, patents data were collected from Derwent World Patents Index between 1985 and May 2008. For this study, 169,312 patents were chosen and examined. Total volume of patents, technology focus, assignee sector, priority date and the comparison with other countries are analyzed. It is found that patents on water pollution and treatment filed at China have experienced a remarkable increase and the increase rate of patents filed at China change simultaneous with the percentage of domestic applications. However, the number of high quality Triadic patents with priority country as China remains small. Furthermore, in addition to individual patent assignees, both Chinese universities and enterprises also play important roles in patent activity of water pollution and treatment. In addition, the pattern of South Korea’s development can provide short-term implications for China and the regularity in Triadic patents’ development can provide some guidance to China’s long-term development. In contrast, the development pattern of Brazil and India is less influential to China’s development. Furthermore, China’s technology focuses on water pollution and treatment seem to parallel global and triadic patent trends. This research provides a comprehensive picture of China’s innovation capability in the area of water pollution and treatment. It will help China’s local governments to improve their regional S&T capability and will provide support the National Water Pollution Control and Treatment Project in China.     

两阶段专利竞赛中企业的R&D投资策略研究

在企业为获取专利权而展开的专利竞赛中,企业的策略至关重要,参赛企业必须根据其在竞赛中的相对位置不断调整R&D投资策略．本文提出了两阶段专利竞赛模型,并应用该模型对专利竞赛中企业的R&D投资策略进行了分析．