Just over two months ago, the IAM Market Knowledge Centre reported on Texan NPE Longhorn IP’s acquisition of several patents from an unnamed Chinese telecoms company.
The findings of recent research from IP analytics firm Darts-ip suggest that China and Germany are the top two jurisdictions for non-practising entities (NPEs) that are asserting their patent rights.
Patent pool operator Via Licensing has introduced extensive royalty rate changes for its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) offerings, as it continues to test out innovative strategies aimed at increasing licence uptake among a new generation of Asian smartphone and tablet makers.
When we discuss Chinese companies on the IAM Market blog, more often than not we are talking about them as buyers of patents, rather than sellers. But a recent sale of patents by a major Chinese telecoms company could prove to be one of the year’s most significant deals so far.
It has often been said that as US courts, legislators and lobbyists make it progressively difficult to enforce and license patents in the country, rights holders will turn their attentions to foreign markets like China in order to monetise their IP portfolios. In doing so, however, many patent owners will need to adopt different tactical approaches. Two developments in recent weeks suggest that, at least for some IP owners, this strategic shift is already in full swing.
The value of patents covering computer programs and related technologies has arguably been the hardest hit by recent legislative reforms, new jurisprudence and anti-IP sentiment. But those looking to buy, sell and license software patents have no reason to give up hope just yet.
China’s patent market has developed at breakneck speed, thanks in no small part to government policies at both the national and provincial level that have encouraged filings and IP-backed loans.
Hugo Barra, vice president of global operations at Chinese consumer tech titan Xiaomi, seems to get asked the same question every time he faces journalists: “When is the company going to launch in the United States?”