【英语中国】中国人的知识产权观

SpaceX is in a race for its life with the Chinese. The US venture says it has $3bn in orders under its belt, making it one of the early leaders in the commercial space industry. But founder Elon Musk is under no illusions about the existential risk to his business: the Chinese path to success in the commercial space industry, he says, runs over his company’s dead body.

What should a company, or an entire industry, that finds itself in Chinese crosshairs do? One response at SpaceX, Mr Musk says, has been to avoid seeking patent protection for the company’s most important technology.

This may sound counter-intuitive. Isn’t this just the moment when tech companies should be laying legal claim to their secret sauce? Not at all. To file for patents, says Mr Musk, would be to hand his Chinese rivals “a recipe book”.

The most important stuff stays under lock and key. SpaceX only applies for patents on “things you could observe anyway”, Mr Musk says. It is a paranoia that is evident throughout Silicon Valley.

So how do you reconcile this with evidence of a growing appreciation inside China of the importance of legal protections for intellectual property? The Chinese patent office, according to new figures this week from the World Intellectual Property Organisation, now receives more applications from local residents than any other on earth.

As Francis Gurry, WIPO director-general, says, this is remarkable. China introduced its first patent law only in the mid-1980s. Yet, in terms of the total number of patents filed, it has just overtaken Japan and stands second only to the US. That, Mr Gurry adds, matches soaring research and development spending that has also seen China overtake Japan.

You can certainly quibble about the quality of the ideas produced by this R&D and patent-filing boom. It is hard to think of a breakthrough innovation that has come from it, says Mark Anderson, a US technology analyst. Yet the official drive inside China to refashion the economy around R&D and innovation is undeniable. Shouldn’t that herald a rising respect for – and enforcement of – IP rights?

This reveals a massive “disconnect”, says Robert Holleyman, head of the Business Software Alliance, whose members feel among the most exposed to IP theft. Computer users inside China show a greater appreciation of IP than most others around the world and believe innovators should be rewarded for their efforts, he says. But they also feel little compunction about stealing software. That disconnect seems to be embedded in official as much as personal attitudes.

One western official puts this down to Chinese “pragmatism”. Chinese officials can promote the importance of IP at the same time that they recognise their own relative lack of it – and a need to do whatever it takes to amass more.

In these circumstances, what are established tech companies – and their shareholders – to do? One response is for companies to keep their most valuable IP close to home and not to allow it to reach their facilities in China, where it is in danger of walking out of the door at night. But the recent rise in reported hacking attacks suggests this is inadequate.

As Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel, says: “If someone wants to steal my IP, they can do it just as easily in Portland, Oregon, as Beijing.” The US chipmaker was one of very few companies to admit to having been targeted in the wave of “Aurora” cyber attacks that was disclosed by Google early last year.

The only good defences, says Mr Anderson, are military-grade ones. After all, the other side may be operating with military-level support. In highlighting a fresh wave of hacks six months ago, Google said it had traced the intrusions to Jinan, where the local vocational school has ties to the People’s Liberation Army.

Defence starts with a clear-eyed assessment of what technology is likely to prove the most vital. If businesses like SpaceX are not going to patent their best ideas, then they must go to great lengths to defend it. It should be stored on systems that are not connected to the internet, says Mr Anderson, with strict limits on who has access.

Greater accountability is also essential, both inside and outside. Protection of IP should be a clear senior executive responsibility. And shareholders and regulators have a part to play. More disclosure of hacking attacks is needed. Shareholders would also be reassured by explicit certification that their company’s crown jewels are secure.

These are issues that should now be top of every shareholder’s list of questions for management. There’s a good chance that much valuable IP has already been siphoned off, say commentators like Mr Anderson. But that’s no excuse for failing to protect the next round of good ideas.

太空探索技术公司(SpaceX)正拼命与中国人赛跑。这家美国公司表示，他们已经拿下价值30亿美元的订单，成为商业航天行业的早期领先企业之一。但SpaceX创始人马一龙(Elon Musk)清醒地认识到，他们面临着生死存亡的危险。他宣称，除非彻底击垮SpaceX，否则中国休想在商业航天领域取得成功。

如果一家公司，或者说整个行业，发现自己成了中国人瞄准的目标，它们应当怎么办？马一龙表示，SpaceX的对策之一是，始终不为公司最重要的技术寻求专利保护。

他的话听起来可能不合常理。科技类公司眼下不正应当通过法律保护自己的秘笈吗？当然不是。马一龙表示，申请专利等于将“秘笈”拱手送给中国的竞争对手。

最重要的东西都被严密保管起来。马一龙表示，SpaceX只为那些“不管怎样大家都会知道的东西”申请专利。整个硅谷都笼罩着一种疑神疑鬼的气氛。

那么，有迹象显示，中国国内正日渐重视以法律手段保护知识产权，这又该如何解释？世界知识产权组织(WIPO)的最新数据表明，中国国家知识产权局目前收到的本国居民专利申请数量已位居全球第一。

正如世界知识产权组织总干事弗朗西斯?居里(Francis Gurry)所说，这是一个令人瞩目的现象。上世纪80年代中期，中国才推出了首部专利法。但在受理的专利申请数量方面，中国刚刚超过了日本，成为仅次于美国的世界第二大专利申请国。马一龙补充道，这和中国研发支出的飙升相吻合——中国的研发支出也已超过了日本。

鉴于中国研发经费与专利申请数量激增的速度，你自然会对这些专利的质量提出异议。美国科技分析师马克?安德森(Mark Anderson)表示，人们很难想出中国有哪项突破性创新。不过，中国国内的官方力量无疑正致力于围绕研发和创新重塑中国经济。难道这不正预示着中国会愈发重视和保护知识产权吗？

商业软件联盟(BSA)首席执行官罗伯特?霍利曼(Robert Holleyman)表示，这反映出一种严重的“割裂”——该联盟的会员属于知识产权遭窃最严重的群体之列。霍利曼表示，中国境内电脑用户对知识产权的重视程度超过了全球其他地方大多数用户，而且他们也相信创新者付出了努力，理应获得回报。但他们同时又毫无顾忌地盗窃软件。这种割裂似乎已扎根于官员及个人行为中。

有一位西方官员将这种状况归结为中国人的“实用主义”。在宣扬知识产权重要性的同时，中国官员也意识到中国在这方面相对短缺——因而有必要不惜一切代价积累更多知识产权。

在这些情况下，既有科技公司及其股东该如何应对？一个对策是企业把最有价值的知识产权留在国内，不允许它们被带到在中国的业务部门中去，因为在那里有失窃的危险。但近来增多的黑客攻击报道表明，这种做法没有效果。

正如英特尔(Intel)首席执行官欧德宁(Paul Otellini)所说，“如果有人想偷我的知识产权，那他在在美国俄勒冈州的波特兰偷和在北京偷，是一样容易的。”只有少数几家公司承认自己是谷歌(Google)去年年初披露的“极光”(Aurora)黑客攻击行动的目标，这家美国芯片制造商便是其中之一。

安德森表示，唯一管用的防范手段是军用级别的手段。毕竟，对方可能是在军方的支持下采取行动的。谷歌在6个月前披露新一波黑客攻击时表示，它的追踪结果发现入侵活动来自中国济南，当地一家职业学校与中国人民解放军(PLA)关系密切。

实施防御，首先需对哪些技术可能证明最为重要进行清醒的评估。如果SpaceX等企业不打算为其最重要的技术申请专利，那么必须竭力保卫它们。安德森表示，它们应当被存储在未联接至互联网的系统中，并对访问权限做出严格限制。

无论对内还是对外，加强问责制都是至关重要的。保护知识产权应当是高级管理层的一条明确的职责。此外，股东和监管机构也应发挥一定的作用。有必要对黑客攻击行为进行更多的披露。股东们应得到明确的保证，他们公司的“明珠”知识产权是安全的。

眼下，在每位股东针对管理层提出的问题清单上，都应将这些问题置于最优先位置。安德森等评论人士表示，价值极高的知识产权很有可能已经被盗取了。但这不能成为放弃防范下一轮专利被盗事件的借口。

译者/何黎