The intellectual property rights management of SMEs should consider their own resource conditions and make reasonable plans, which can be started from the following four aspects:
1. Establishment of intellectual property management institutions of enterprises
(1) Enterprises of different industries and sizes have different positions and proportions of intellectual property rights, and the requirements and emphases of intellectual property management systems should also be different. For large and medium-sized enterprises, such as high-tech, independent brand export-oriented enterprises, it is necessary to set up an independent intellectual property department when the number of patent applications is more than 1 per year and the types and volume of intellectual property business involved are more. However, in some small enterprises, the number of patent applications per year is several or dozens, and there is no need to set up a special management organization.
(2) The intellectual property management institution should adapt to the enterprise scale. Small-scale enterprises can set up intellectual property management departments directly under the top managers or R&D departments of enterprises. Large-scale enterprises can learn from the practices of foreign multinational companies and divide the intellectual property management department into several functional sub-departments to ensure the rigor and flexibility of enterprise intellectual property management.
(3) It is not necessary for some small enterprises to establish independent intellectual property management institutions, but this does not mean that they are far away from intellectual property rights, and small enterprises are inevitably involved in intellectual property issues. Small enterprises are weak, so they can consider joining the industry protection alliance, and take joint confrontation against the acts that infringe on the intellectual property rights of their enterprises, so as to make the intellectual property system industrialized and socialized.
2, the establishment of enterprise intellectual property system
The establishment of enterprise intellectual property management system should highlight three items:
(1) Incentive system
Incentive system is an important mechanism to mobilize employees to engage in knowledge creation. Enterprises encourage employees to innovate through different incentive systems to improve their independent innovation ability and market competitiveness. If some companies set up a direct cash reward mechanism for patent applications; Other companies link the qualification examination and promotion of professional and technical personnel with the quantity and quality of technical personnel's patent applications.
(2) Restraint and responsibility system
Restraint system is to regulate the behavior of employees and prevent the intellectual property of enterprises from being leaked or lost through employees. For example, an enterprise may consider signing an Intellectual Property and Confidentiality Agreement with employees as an annex to the Labor Contract, clarifying the ownership of intellectual property rights of service inventions, listing the scope of business secrets of the enterprise, and the confidentiality obligations that employees should undertake.
(3) Education and training system
Intellectual property awareness is the foundation of intellectual property work. The cultivation of intellectual property awareness of enterprise employees is not a one-off event, but a long-term and continuous work. Therefore, only by establishing a long-term and effective education and training system can the intellectual property work of enterprises be carried out more deeply.
3. Management of intellectual property agency
Intellectual property agency is indispensable to the development of enterprise intellectual property work. The quality of agency service of intellectual property agencies can directly affect the quality of intellectual property work of enterprises to some extent.
By the end of February, 211, there were 81 patent agencies in China. How to choose a suitable agency from many agencies is a problem for all enterprises engaged in intellectual property work. To solve this problem, we should at least start from the following three aspects:
(1) Selection of intellectual property agency
① Qualification of agency
When choosing an agency, enterprises should choose according to their own intellectual property agency needs. If only the domestic part is involved, there is no need to pay too much attention to the foreign experience of the agency. However, the products and technologies of enterprises involve foreign markets, so we should focus on selecting agencies with rich experience in foreign affairs, which can help enterprises choose the appropriate application path and save application fees.
② software conditions of agency
a. system conditions
Intellectual property agency service is a systematic project, involving many aspects. Only when the agency has good process management can it truly complete the cases entrusted by customers.
in the patent agency business, an invention patent generally takes 2-3 years from application to authorization, which may involve the writing, correction, reply to OA, rejection, review and authorization of a new application, and only one time limit will involve about 5. If there is no good process to control it, it is very likely that the time limit will be missed, which will lead to the rejection or withdrawal of the application and the loss of rights.
As we all know, there is a high turnover rate in the agency industry. In this environment, if there is no complete quality management system, the quality of the agency is completely in the hands of the agent. Once there is the loss of agents, the quality of cases may fluctuate greatly.
B. Personnel conditions
Because the implementer of intellectual property agency service is the agent, the professional quality of the agent is one of the key factors affecting the quality of the agent. When choosing an agency, an enterprise should understand the professional background, work experience and agency experience of the agent who will represent the enterprise in the agency.
③ Hardware conditions of the agency
A. Agency business system
The implementation of the case entrusted by the client to the agency is not only the work of writing or preparing documents, but also involves a lot of follow-up contents, such as the management of basic information of patent cases, the management of customer information, the management of case time limit, the management of special requirements of customers, etc. Therefore, a perfect business system is also one of the foundations for agencies to provide quality services to customers.
B. Information security of agency
As we all know, patent application and trademark registration may directly relate to the core technology and business secrets of enterprises, which is very important for enterprises. Therefore, when choosing an agency, the ability to ensure the information security of the agency should also be one of the contents of the enterprise's inspection.
④ Development concept and history of agency
At present, the maintenance period of an invention patent in China is usually 4-5 years. If this is calculated, it usually takes 6-8 years for an "invention patent" from application to authorization to the end of the right period. Therefore, the life cycle of the agency is also very important for enterprises. Without the concept and development plan of long-term service for enterprise intellectual property rights, the agency will certainly not be able to provide long-term, stable and quality-guaranteed intellectual property agency services for enterprises.
(2) evaluation of intellectual property agency
The evaluation cycle of intellectual property agency includes: monthly evaluation, quarterly evaluation and annual evaluation.
monthly evaluation: it is suitable for enterprises to entrust an agency with a large number of cases. Enterprises can make an overall evaluation of the process and entity quality of the overall case.
quarterly evaluation: enterprises can summarize the problems that occur in the process of agency business processing every quarter, and feed them back to the agency, which will put forward rectification plans to implement internal improvement.
annual evaluation: an enterprise can summarize the service provision data of the agency in the whole year, including the number of cases handled, the timely delivery rate of cases, the accuracy of bills, etc., for comprehensive analysis and evaluation.
(3) communication of intellectual property agency
① communication mode between enterprise and intellectual property agency
interview: suitable for enterprises to deal with typical and key cases.
telephone communication: suitable for handling specific problems or more urgent matters in a case.
e-mail: suitable for consulting/informing matters.
② Establishment of effective communication channels between enterprises and intellectual property agencies
A three-dimensional communication framework should be established between enterprises and intellectual property agencies, so that enterprises can contact relevant responsible persons for handling and solving problems in intellectual property agency in the shortest time. Its purpose is to minimize the possibility of delaying the handling of cases due to communication problems.
4. Outsourcing of intellectual property services
For some small and medium-sized enterprises, it is also a good way to realize the management of their own intellectual property rights through outsourcing of intellectual property management without their own intellectual property management capabilities.
intellectual property outsourcing services generally include: patent application writing, OA reply, patent search, patent infringement litigation, trademark registration and objection, etc. If a small and medium-sized enterprise has to deal with similar problems by itself, it is probably necessary to set up an intellectual property department and a set of intellectual property management processes and systems in addition to professional intellectual property personnel, which is sometimes unrealistic for small and medium-sized enterprises.
therefore, enterprises can outsource their own intellectual property affairs, that is, entrust their own intellectual property affairs to appropriate intellectual property agencies (such as patent application, trademark registration, patent infringement litigation, etc.), so that enterprises can not only obtain relatively complete intellectual property management services, but also save some funds and energy needed to set up intellectual property departments.
2. What's the use of the certificate of intellectual property management system
1. Clarify the company's intellectual property resources and management status, diagnose the main problems and loopholes, and put forward corresponding improvement measures and implementation plans. Set up the top-level design of intellectual property rights, and initially establish a self-improving intellectual property management system that is organically integrated with the original management system of enterprises;
2. Establish intellectual property policy and assessable, separable and executable long, medium and short-term management objectives;
3. Improve the resource management and allocation of intellectual property rights in human, financial and material aspects;
4. plug the loopholes that may exist in R&D, procurement, production, sales and advertising, and prevent possible intellectual property litigation risks;
5. Establish and improve the management mechanism of confidentiality and risk classification of intellectual property rights;
6. Make internal management (including classified management of documents, contracts and files, original design, data and evidence materials) rigorous and smooth, with clear responsibilities and rights, and reduce disputes;
7. Lay a foundation for capitalization of intellectual property rights (mainly the transformation of R&D investment into intangible assets) and scientific bookkeeping; The economic benefits of intellectual property capitalization created by jitc are often unprofitable businesses and belong to pure profits;
8. Through the organic operation of intellectual property rights, the value-added tax and income tax may be reduced, and intangible assets may be significantly increased, and greater gains will be made in asset operations such as corporate financing and listing, investment mergers and acquisitions, and corporate sales. The enterprise value will probably be improved, and the shareholders' rights and interests will probably be increased;
9. It can maximize the interests of investors and give full play to the basic rights and interests of intellectual property workers. Promote enterprises to produce new products and technologies with independent intellectual property rights with high added value. Transferring others through their own production and sales or through technology trade license will bring rich economic benefits to enterprises;
1. Solve various intellectual property management problems that may exist in enterprises;
11. Value enhancement: the value of intangible assets of an enterprise gains greater benefits in asset operations such as financing and listing, investment and merger, and enterprise sale;
12. position consolidation: the competitive position of enterprises in the market has obviously enhanced the position of products with intellectual property protection developed by enterprises in the sales market;
13. Risk improvement: the enterprise's ability to cope with risks can avoid or reduce intellectual property rights or legal risks in the process of product life cycle management;
14. competition enhancement: the core competitiveness of an enterprise supports the sustained and healthy development of the enterprise by enhancing its technological innovation ability, and maintains its vitality and motivation;
15. The certification of intellectual property management norms of qualified enterprises is an important reference condition for the establishment of scientific and technological projects, the identification of high-tech enterprises, the identification of intellectual property demonstration enterprises and advantageous enterprises.