Abstract

Patent information as a form of technology disclosure serves an important function in business strategy as well as in industrial policy making. This article thus examines both information disclosure as a fundamental principle of patent law and the role of patent information for technology disclosure.

This paper then proceeds to show the rising importance of Chinese patents as sources of technological information as compared to Japanese, Korean, and Indian patents. With reference to Japan, Korea, and India, this study demonstrates both the substantial increase of Chinese patents in force from the 1980s to 2006 and the increase of Chinese patent grants from the 1990s to 2006. Furthermore, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian patent grants for every billion U.S. Dollar of the gross domestic product (in current prices of the period measured) are analyzed as is the ratio of patent grants to patent applications in China, Japan, Korea, and India. Based upon this data, this paper argues that China will soon assume a leading role in the provision of technological information through the patent system.

Furthermore, analyses of the availability of and access to patent information in Asia demonstrate that patent information is easily accessible, while its relevance is hard to detect. In consequence, it is argued that the increasing relevance of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian patent information needs to be complemented with the provision of competitive databases that contain value-added patent information allowing for high quality search results.  
 

I. Introduction

With the awakening of the People’s Republic of China (China) to the global economy, the world has witnessed a gradual re-orientation of Chinese intellectual property (IP) policy towards a better protection of national and economic interests for the promotion of domestic innovation and development. This re-orientation together with the rising importance of the Chinese economy in international trade was accompanied by a surge in patent applications and grants in China. As a result of this surge in patent applications and grants, the role and relevance of Chinese patent information as a source of technological information has considerably increased. This article analyzes and discusses the rising role of Chinese patent information with reference to both a larger theoretical context and the availability of Asian patent information in general.

From the very inception of the patent system, information disclosure has constituted a fundamental principle of patent law. Over time, patent information as a form of technology disclosure has assumed an important function in business strategy as well as in industrial policy making. Patent information has in particular gained in importance in the current era of high technologies in which incremental improvements on the basis of prior innovation constitute the lion’s share of research and development (R&D) outcomes. At the same time, the role and relevance of Asia in technology disclosure through the patent system has increased due to the emergence of new global players such as China, the Republic of Korea (Korea), and India, thus, warranting a closer look at the rising importance of Asian patent information.

This study first discusses the role of patent information for technology disclosure. Information disclosure is accepted by the study as a fundamental principle of patent law before establishing the patent document as a source of technological information and examining the role and relevance of patent information.

The study then proceeds to show the rising importance of patents in China, Korea, and India while reconfirming the long-established relevance of Japanese patent data as a source of technological information. While China is gradually assuming a leading role in the provision of technological information through the patent system, Korea was the fourth largest patent office in the world by 2006 with patent filings by residents growing threefold between 1994 and 2004. Likewise, the number of patent applications and grants from India increased considerably after 2001 as a result of a greater awareness of patents and patent rights. As a consequence, the most spectacular growth in available patent information has lately occurred in Asian countries. With the rising importance of Asian patent information, the question of availability of and access to patent information has come to the forefront of attention. By referring to trends and issues of patent information in China, Japan, Korea, and India, this study illustrates that patent information has become easily accessible, but its effect on the increasing use of patent information is still hard to detect.

Ultimately, this paper will argue that China will soon enough assume a leading role in the provision of technological information through the patent system. It will also argue that competitive databases containing value-added patent information which allow for high quality search results must be provided to increase the usage of Chinese and Asian patent information.