Innovation & IP Asset Consulting
Convergence for divergent trends

THE INNOVATION AND ITS INTERFERENCE

Opposition is stirred against the digital revolution. For example, German Amazon employees in distribution centers or even taxi drivers, are resisting the placement of private chauffeurs through apps. It is very difficult to find the golden mean in the discussion about what is technically possible and socially desirable. On the one hand it is critical to question how far companies submit to the progress, but on the other hand, they must stay competitive, especially to China, Korea or the U.S. in order to continue to guarantee prosperity. It is therefore advisable to at least pro-actively pursue modernization and innovations as well as, to increase the pace of adaptability, if necessary.  Read the Rest

THE LEAD LESSENS IN SPITE OF EUROPES INNOVATION POWER

Munich May 2014: Although Europe continues to bring groundbreaking inventions on the market, the President of the European Patent Office in Munich, Benoît Battistelli, in his article of 20 May 2014 in Handelsblatt warned that the lead is diminishing. Although very strict procurement procedures of the EPA guarantee an actual innovation, thereby granting trivial patents and so-called “patent trolls” are prevented from competing against new economies such as China and South Korea. However, Europe must urgently optimize conditions for venture capital, research, development and invest a greater networking of academic and corporate world. To continue to compete internationally and to catch up on business areas such as digital communication and consumer electronics again, innovation-friendly conditions for companies must be created.

GERMANY MUST REACT ON CHINA’S GROWTH

Germany does no longer surpass China in its international economic relations, both as a destination for exports as well as a supplier. Likewise, direct investors have discovered the land for themselves: China lays second place after the U.S. and thus in front of all EU countries.

China is currently in a huge structural change. As actual incomes rise and a high-income middle class is created, followed by an increased focus on consumer goods and services, away from investment and capital goods. Germany must not make the mistake and only put forth on profitable business models and market segments. Reaction is a must because in the future China will be able to offer competitive alternatives, especially in the fields of mechanical engineering and electronics, and discover market segments for themselves, where Germany was the market leader. Especially in fields such as environmental, energy, new materials, food industry, health, education, entertainment and tourism industry, China’s rapid advancements are quickly. As from this result, many services, especially through the Internet and e-commerce, must be developed such as the home and export market, simultaneously with the result that Germany automatically will approach China as a market. It would continue to be a mistake to see China as a rival and thus to follow America. So far, the Chinese industrial investments have been positive and in the future, world trade will no longer be shaped without China.

NEW BCG STUDY WARNS AGAINST BIG THREAT OF CHINA FOR GERMAN ENGINEERING

Ralf Moldenhauer, Partner and expert for strategic business development at BCG warns:

Chinese challengers will lastingly threaten German engineers. The Chinese companies will further invest in research & development, will also in future offer more high-grade products, and furthermore continue to aggressively overtake established markets to acquire technologies, brands, and Markets.

Latest figures show China’s rapid growth in the global construction machinery market, which has grown fivefold in the years from 2006 to 2011 from 3 to 15%. Similarly, the share of sales of classic machines, optical and electrical products increased between the years 2008 to 2012 in the European Union.Germany’s share of sales in other EU countries fell by 4%. Exactly for these opposing developments warns BCG and appeals to German companies to not rest on their export strength and monopoly power.

Source: Die Welt, article by Tobias Kaiser on 03/27/2014: China’s companies threaten the German mechanical engineering

Patent Chief Beat Weibel settles on Quality instead of Quantity for Siemens in the Future

The technology group Siemens will change its strategy and intends to seek future higher-quality and more efficient patents with so-called patent families to fundamentally secure particularly important innovations. According to the saying “quality not quantity”. Currently, China is internationally the largest patent applicant. Last year, the company Samsung displaced Siemens being number 1 in the patent applications at the European Patent Office.

Climate protection: China better than Germany

Sydney, March 2013: Since 2005 the Australia based and independent Climate Institute ranks countries according to their efforts in favor of sustainable climate protection. According to a recently published list, China has climbed to rank 3 in view of massive investments into environmental protection measures. Germany has dropped to rank 6. France is the leading the ranking, followed by Japan, China, South Korea and Great Brittan.

In 2030 China’s GDP will almost reach the combined GDPS of the US and the EU

Oxford, January 2013: For 2030 Oxford Economics estimates China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to amount to 65.4 trillion US$. Thus, China’s GDP will almost reach the combined GDPs of the US and the EU amounting 71.9 Billion US$ by then. At present, China’s GDP of 8.2 trillion $ adds up to less than a quarter of the combined national economies of the US and the EU amounting in total to 34.4 trillion $.

Kaercher stops copies in China

China, January 2013: Kaercher, a German company specialized on cleaning technology, fully succeeds in China in a lawsuit versus the China based company Wenzhou Haibao. Kaercher is now able to stop copying products of a high-pressure cleaners. This case is an example of the increasing legal certainty in China regarding IP. Also Chinese companies investing in R&D suffer more and more by copies from Chinese competitors. Thus, in more than 90% of all IP suits in China only domestic companies are involved.

Vringo continues suing ZTE

Mannheim, Germany, December 2012:  VRINGO GmbH – a subsidiary of VRINGO, Inc. – has initiated a patent infringement lawsuit filed against ZTE Corp., China, and its German subsidiary, ZTE Deutschland GmbH (“ZTE”). This is just one among a series of several corresponding multi-national suits. VRINGO is a company engaged in the innovation, development and monetization of mobile technologies and intellectual property and is considered to be one of the so-called patent trolls or NPEs.