Secrets of American Intellectual Property Protection

As the world's largest brand country, the United States has exported a series of well-known products such as Apple, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Nike to the world. The strength of the United States is to a considerable extent the strength of the brand economy. Today, Nanjing Huaxun American patent experts interpret the intellectual property protection system of the United States from three aspects.

Copyright aspect

According to a statistical analysis by the Federal Judicial Centre, the number of copyright complaints filed between 2014 and 2015 increased by 25% over the previous year, reaching 4895. "An Empirical Study of Copyright Cases from 2005 to the End of 2008" shows that of all the federal courts that took up copyright cases, the Central District Court of California and the Southern District Court of New York are "hot districts", a phenomenon that is unique because it is not the case in other types of cases. Some people may "take it for granted that most of the parties to these lawsuits are media companies, but the reality is that more than 70% of the cases are filed by individuals or small companies". Big media companies are certainly active, but only in specific areas. In contrast, small companies are surprisingly active, which is also reflected to some extent in an increasingly competitive knowledge economy. Maintaining their copyright is very important for those companies trying to grow.

In addition, in the statistical cases, Fortune 1000 and its affiliated companies as plaintiffs accounted for a considerable proportion of file sharing cases. Because for large media companies, protecting their huge copyright products is the key to maintaining their brands, and the development of science and technology reduces the cost of infringement, but brings technical problems to the maintenance of the brand, which has become the last effective choice through legal means.

Patent aspect

Compared with copyright, the problems related to patents are closely related to brand economy, and the empirical research on patents is more abundant. According to the research statistics of American scholars on intellectual property litigation for 20 years (1994-2014), although copyright and patent litigation each account for 31% in proportion, in the long run, patent litigation is increasing ". At the same time, according to the statistical analysis of Lex Machina, the number of patent cases in federal district courts rose by 15% to 5830 in 2015, with more cases accepted than in any previous year.

One court in the Eastern District of Texas took 43.6 percent of the cases. This phenomenon is a "practice" that has been formed for a long time. The main reason is that compared with other courts, the court is very beneficial to the plaintiff in terms of the scope of investigation in patent litigation and the reluctance to suspend the litigation procedure. This is different from our traditional impression that "people tend to think that places with advanced economy and technology should be the most concentrated in such litigation". What kind of litigation rules run most conveniently will attract the plaintiffs most easily. Moreover, not only has the number of cases increased, but the average amount of damages awarded in the preliminary award has also increased accordingly. From 2011 to 2015, the average amount of damages awarded by a judge was $600000, while those awarded by a jury were $10 million. In addition, the increasing number of foreign parties holding United States patents makes the decisions of both the Federal Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the specialized courts that deal with patent appeals, increasingly influential to all parties.

Trademark aspects

Compared with copyright and patents, there are relatively few empirical studies on trademarks, which also brings some difficulties to statistical research. But this does not mean that the judicial protection of trademarks is not comprehensive. Even in the Federal Supreme Court, there have been many trademark cases in recent years. There were five cases from 2013 to 2015, but compared with copyright and patent cases, the trademark cases accepted in recent years seem to be more related to procedures.

According to Lex Machina, trademark infringement cases remained stable from 2005 to 2015. But fewer trademark cases were filed in 2015 than in any previous year-just 3449. Prosecutions culminated in 2014, with a surge in the third quarter. The main reason is that the former players of the National Football League (National Football League) are dissatisfied with the NFL's use of its image logo without its permission. Fred Dryer and five other players sued the NFL collectively. The case ended in a settlement and got the permission of the court.

It is this kind of all-round protection that has created the uniqueness of American brands in the world, and thus promoted economic development. Therefore, cultivating brands and developing them into scientific and technological innovation countries through intellectual property rights and other systems provide reference for developing countries like China.