Japanese companies to fire patent weapon at Chinese products

A report of International Herald Leader under Xinhua warns that Corporate Japan is conceiving a patents-armed campaign against Chinese electronic products.

Japanese companies have taken an array of legal actions against South Korean businesses. The lawsuits which all focus on patent infringement include Toshiba's accusation against Hyundai on flash storage, Matsushita's complaints against LG for plasma displays, and Fujitsu's criticism against Samsung. LG products have already been deprived of the access to the Japanese market.

As a matter of fact, to secure their leadership in electronic products, Japanese enterprises have launched a patent protection storm to hit their Asian competitors. Electronic products of new generation is one of the major powerhouses of Japan's economic recovery. A number of Japanese electronic and mechanical producers have claimed cease of infringements and economic compensation against South Korean and Chinese Tainwan enterprises.

The anti-infringement campaign launched by Japanese enterprises has so far targeted at South Korean and Taiwan businesses. However, enterprises in the Chinese mainland who are getting more competitive on the world market are expected to be the next target.

21 Japanese manufacturers in China have even established an alliance which investigates into and lodges plaints against Chinese enterprises which are found to commit infringements of Japanese patented technologies.

In line with the government's strategy of building the country on patented technologies, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have urged Japanese enterprises to implement effective measures to keep their core technologies preserved.

Many Japanese enterprises in China have special legal or IPR sections in place which trace and deal with IPR infringements of Chinese companies. As learned 9 Japanese electronic and electrical manufacturers in China, such as Matsushita, Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba, Sony, and Sharp, as well as some 10 Japanese manufacturers have set up such forces in their assets in China. Japanese digital camera producers including Cannon and Olympus also follow the suit.

An IPR personnel with a Japanese business is sure that Japanese digital camera makers will lodge litigations of patents against their Chinese competitors sooner or later. Unlicensed technologies with Japanese origin are embedded in low priced digital cameras made in China.

This is also true in the auto playfield. Honda and Nissan have established sections in their Chinese operations to see to patent infringement cases. Toyota is considering to have their patent experts in place for their China market.

These experts in Japan-funded enterprises in China will collect evidence of faked products and patents infringements, which will be used to urge the Chinese departments of public security and administrations of industry and commerce to outlaw patent infringement behaviors of Chinese enterprises. They will even bring Chinese businesses to court if they think it's necessary.

By People's Daily Online