Hunan Construction Machinery Cluster: "Crash" Model of Intellectual Property Strategy

In 2008, during the rescue of the southern low temperature rain, snow, and freezing disasters and the Wenchuan earthquake, construction machinery with the “SANY” and “ZOOMLION” signs struggled in the first line of rescue. In the past 10 to 15 years, in Hunan, outstanding companies such as SANY, ZOOMLION, and Shanhe Intelligence have emerged. The total market capitalization of these three listed companies exceeds 200 billion yuan. In 2009, sales revenue exceeded 70 billion yuan, and this year is expected to reach 100 billion yuan. In the industrial share of Hunan Province and Changsha City, the three companies all occupy a considerable body.

He Jihua, deputy mayor of Changsha City, told the reporter: “The rise of construction machinery industry clusters in Changsha and Hunan has on the one hand rejuvenated us, but at the same time, we think that 'looking back' ----- conducts periodical analysis and summing up more We believe that there are three key factors that have contributed to today's industrial cluster of construction machinery: one is that there are good entrepreneurial teams, and the other is that there are clear development strategies and ideas. The third and most critical point is to have core technologies. Supported independent intellectual property rights."

The story of the three companies constantly breaking through and persisting in independent innovation has been heard. When interviewing the three companies on the topic of “Intellectual Property Rights”, the reporter deeply felt that the spirit of innovation may be their soul and they truly implemented When companies such as market, value, and business operations are in real competitiveness, the highlights of the three companies are reflected in the intellectual property framework.

Xu Wuquan, chief engineer of Zoomlion, still remembers what they said when they bought Italy's CIFA company. "There is no innovation without intellectual property rights."

Start with Intellectual Property - 3 patents The first year income of 7.8 million yuan

Shan Hezhi Chairman He Qinghua had taught at Central South University from the 1980s to the 1990s. During the school He Qinghua led the scientific research team consisting of postdoctoral, doctoral, and master's degrees from the Institute of Electromechanical Technology and Equipment of Central South University to develop a hydraulic static pile driver. , And obtained 3 patents authorized. In order to promote the transformation of his scientific research achievements into practical productivity, He Qinghua stepped out of the ivory tower and registered and established the company in 1999. He also obtained exclusive licenses for the implementation of three patents for hydraulic static pile drivers from the Central South University in the form of technology shares. In the year when the company was founded, it realized a sales income of 7.8 million yuan for patented products.

Today, Shanhe's intelligent products cover more than a dozen fields including large-scale piling machinery, small-scale construction machinery, medium and large-scale mining machinery, modern rock drilling equipment, industrial vehicles, coal mining equipment and hydraulic components, and more than 160 models and specifications. It is currently the largest in the country. Piling machinery production base. The products are among the top brands in China and are sold in bulk to more than 50 countries and regions.

According to Wu Wenwei, a specialist in intellectual property rights of Shanhe, the company has always attached great importance to intellectual property rights since it started with intellectual property rights. It has incorporated the number of applications for intellectual property rights and the types of applications into the acceptance criteria for various scientific research projects, and has also used the intellectual property system. It provides legal protection for the industrial transformation and market expansion of innovation results, clearing the obstacles for the connection of innovation results from the laboratory to the market. At the same time, they also take the effectiveness of the implementation of intellectual property rights as a criterion for testing the quality of intellectual property assets, and use market reactions to evaluate the level of intellectual property rights and innovation activities of enterprises. At present, the annual implementation rate of Shanhe's intellectual property rights is not less than 80%, and sales of products with independent intellectual property rights account for over 80% of total sales.

Zoomlion has a long history of intellectual property rights, but Xu Wuquan admits that they have also "walked the detour." As early as 1985, in the year when the Patent Law was implemented, they applied for the first patent “vibrator eccentricity moment adjustment mechanism.” However, everyone’s understanding of patents was relatively shallow and they did not take intellectual property seriously. In the 1990s, the loss of corporate drawings was serious. The loss of the company was a wake-up call to Zoomlion, giving them a new understanding of intellectual property rights. Up to now, Zoomlion has applied for 698 patents, 66 invention patents, and 102 international patent applications (including CIFA).

Intellectual Property Strategy - Prepared

In April 2010, at the 29th German International Construction Machinery, Mining Machinery, Building Material Machinery, Industrial Vehicles and Components Expo (BMW 2010), the exhibitors of Sany Heavy Industry received a lawyer letter stating that Sany Heavy Industry There may be intellectual property rights disputes in the exhibited products. Sany Heavy Industry calmly found each other. After the two parties communicated, the other party quickly withdrew the lawyer's letter. Liu Yonghong, executive deputy dean of the Sany Heavy Industry Research Institute, said: “At the international exhibitions, many lawyer letters on intellectual property rights were thrown at Chinese companies without concrete proof. Some Chinese companies were overwhelmed. In fact, these Chinese companies do not necessarily have intellectual property rights, but they are unprepared for intellectual property rights. Our Sany Heavy Industry is not afraid of receiving such a lawyer letter because we have come prepared."

According to Liu Yonghong, before each Sany Heavy Industry exhibition abroad, related research institutes will sign a “guarantee” for intellectual property rights and the company to ensure that there will be no intellectual property rights issues. Sany Heavy Industry has a strict and standardized intellectual property management framework and code of conduct. Under this system, in-depth case analysis is conducted on patent information that affects the development of the company, and a response plan is prepared in advance. A warning notice is issued to the company's decision-making layer, early warning of potential patent disputes is found, and as far as possible predictable infringements are concerned. Dispute disappeared in the bud, preventing companies from having patent disputes during their business operations.

At the beginning of its founding, Sany Heavy Industry placed patent protection and R&D innovation on the same important position, and regards the technology and products of independent intellectual property rights as an integral part of the company's core competitiveness. Liu Yonghong explained to reporters the intellectual property strategy formulated by Sany Heavy Industry in 2005 - "1234 Intellectual Property Strategy": "1" is a positioning - a strategy system for building a business strategy, R & D strategy, and intellectual property strategy. "2" is the two cores - protection and development; "3" is the three goals - "Improve the management system, improve the quality and quantity of intellectual property, make full use of patent information, avoid risks, and promote technological innovation. The short-term goal of cracking down on infringement, the mid-term goal of “enlarging the contribution of intellectual property rights to business operations, product development, and increasing the brand value, and ensuring the free operation of products”, “the management of intellectual property rights has become one of the company’s profit sources”. Long-term goal; "4" is four strategies - basic patent strategy, peripheral patent strategy, barrier-free patent strategy, information utilization strategy. Through its intellectual property management platform, Sany Heavy Industry manages the intellectual property work of the Group's R&D, marketing, commerce, and service departments, and uses the system to ensure the implementation of the company's patent strategy.

With a 200-character strategic summary, a person who knows what to do at a glance can immediately realize that Sany Heavy Industry has eaten very well on intellectual property, and its direction and ideas are also very clear. Even so, Yi Xiaogang, chief engineer of Sany Heavy Industry, will still say: “Looking back at the cumulative history of our intellectual property rights, we could not help but sweat. Even if our current patent layout is not sufficient to support the goal of Sany, we need to add it. "Strengthening!" At present, Sany Heavy has applied for 2,226 patents, authorized 973 patents, and has more than 500 core technologies. The average annual growth rate is 50%. In 2007, Sany Heavy Industry achieved sales revenue of 13.5 billion yuan, 30.9 billion yuan in 2009, and is expected to sell 50 billion yuan in 2010. The target for 2012 is 100 billion yuan. Sany Heavy Industry’s concrete machinery and mixing equipment have become the No. 1 brand in China. The production and sales volume of concrete pump trucks, mortar trucks, and boring machines rank first in the world.

Use intellectual property management - as long as the quality, do not trick

According to statistics, 95% of the world's innovations can be found in the patent literature. The patent literature also contains information on technology, economy, market, and other aspects. With good patent information, it is good for low-cost, low-risk research and development. The important means is also an important measure for market risk prevention.

Sany Heavy Industry, Zoomlion, and Shanhe Intelligent have all built up their own patent information database according to the characteristics of the company, and have done so well.

Since 2004, Zoomlion has successively established the full-text database of Chinese academic journals, domestic and foreign standard libraries, patent database and intellectual property rights, and patented technology information platform. In July 2010, a professional information platform including patent documents from 81 countries and 4 international organizations was posted on the Zoomlion intranet. This platform is the company's intellectual property engineer understands the product features, data sources, raw data processing, software functions, etc. of a number of similar patent databases, taking into account the optimized combination of the patent platform functions of the local area network and the full, accurate and accurate data of the patented database. Carefully made. At present, this information platform has become a common tool for technical personnel to conduct patent search and technology tracking. The hit rate of the patent database averages 5,000 people per month. At the same time, they also purchased the Derwent patent database and improved the information retrieval platform through the combination of internal and external networks.

Using the patent information platform, Zoomlion conducts comprehensive risk prevention work on patent applications, research project development, product sales, export products, and exhibitions. Shi Tiemei, director of Zoomlion’s Intellectual Property Office, for example, said that “for the tire cranes that will be exported to the Americas, “our intellectual property engineers and designers together carry out a comprehensive search on the patents for tire hangers in the Americas, and together with the company’s products By contrast, we ensure that there are no risks before deciding exports.” With the expansion of the company’s overseas markets, intellectual property lawsuits may be subject to IPRs at any time. Zoomlion conducts comprehensive research on patents of national IP policies and industry benchmarking companies. The international layout of patents for their own products has so far been implemented in the United States, Australia, Colombia, Japan, the European Patent Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization and other countries and regions.

Patent distribution ability is also an important indicator to test the level of patent information used by a company. Shi Tiemei told reporters that the crane boom technology is the core technology of Zoomlion. Since 2006, the company has applied for patents and has applied for a total of 41 patents so far, forming a complete core technology protection network.

Xu Wuquan summed up the image of the IPR work of Zoomlion very image - "As long as the quality, not a trick!" This is a portrayal of Sany Heavy Industry and Shanhe intelligent intellectual property work. Only in the international market will this sentiment be felt because intellectual property has gone through storms and tasted a lot of companies.