Patent auction in China

With the growing economic and technological strengths of China, a large number of scientific and technological achievements can be seen emerging. At the same time, China’s patent industry has seen rapid development as well. Despite this progress, the noticeable gap between technological R&D and industrialization of S&T achievements remains a major problem that has perplexed the industry for quite some time. In recent years a new technology transfer model—the patent auction—has developed in the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries and regions and has come to be widely recognized in the market. Through the auction process, a patent project shows the public once again its potential commercial value. Patent auctions have become an internationally accepted manner of patent transfers and transactions. On December 16^th, 2010, the “First Patent Auction of China Technology Exchange (CTEX)” (also known as the “First Patent Auction of the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS)”) was successfully held This was the first large-scale patent auction in China: 28 items were transferred and the total turnover was nearly three million yuan, accounting for 40% of the items which were auctioned.

On November 16^th, 2011, with the termination of free bidding period on the patent auction network, the “Second Session of CTEX Patent Auction” was completed with both on-site auction and online offering activities. 16 patents were auctioned with a total value of more than one million yuan.

After organizing two patent auctions, CTEX and its cooperating agencies have worked out a successful set of technology transfer mechanisms and have accumulated a wealth of operational experience. According to reports, based on the success of the first two previous sessions of patent auctions, CTEX will organize a third session this autumn (also known as the “Second Patent Auction of the Institute of Computing Technology of the CAS”).

To highlight the upcoming auction, China IP has arranged this special report. The report is composed of interviews from all parties concerned, including auction organizers, auction consignors, professional agencies, intellectual property firms, representatives of successful bidders, industry critics, academics, patent agents, lawyers, technology trading service practitioners, and others. This report will comprehensively and objectively bring together different perspectives from various social communities on this newly emerging industry—the patent auction.