







































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 1, No. 1; 2018 

ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v1n1p60 

 60 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Research on the function Mechanism of Patent Information in the 

Patent Operation of Enterprises in China 

Zhi Liping1 & Shi Bingqi2 

1 Ph. D of School of Computer Science & Information Engineering, Anyang Normal University, Anyang, China 

2 M.A student of Anyang Normal University, Anyang, China 

Correspondence: Zhi Liping, School of Computer Science & Information Engineering, Anyang Normal University, 

Anyang, China. Tel: 1-350-372-8754. E-mail: zhiliping1216@163.com 

 

Received: May 29, 2018; Accepted: June 17, 2018; Published: June 23, 2018 

 

The research is financed by the Henan Philosophy and Social Science Project (No. 2015CZH004) & the Training 

Scheme for Young Key Teachers in Universities of Henan (No. 2016GGJS-123) & the Key Project of Science and 

Technology Research of Education Department of Henan (No. 16A520040) & the Humanities and Social Science 

Project of Education Department of Henan (No. 2017-ZDJH-002) & the Soft Science of Intellectual Property 

Rights of Henan (No. 20170106026). 

 

Abstract 

Patent operation, as a key activity of technological innovation and industrial transformation, is becoming 

increasingly important to economic development. On the basis of field investigation, a questionnaire is designed 

to investigate the application of patent information in the patent operation of Chinese enterprises. It is found that 

the biggest difficulty of Chinese enterprises is still lack of perfect patent database and patent information talents. 

Furthermore, the positive feedback mechanism between patent information and enterprise patent operation is 

analyzed, which is of great theoretical significance to our government and enterprises.  

Keywords: patent information, patent operation, enterprise, positive feedback mechanism 

1. Introduction 

With the deepening development of the global knowledge economy, the business model of realizing the value of 

patent in the world is constantly emerging. In addition to patent transfer, licensing, standardization and patent pool, 

patent securitization, patent pledge loan, patent trust auction, patent insurance and other emerging patent operation 

are developing rapidly, and the realization of enterprise patent value is becoming more and more obvious.  

As the main body of innovation, enterprises play an important role in the patent operation of our country, so how 

about the patent operation of the enterprises in China? How about the application of patent information in patent 

operation? What is the internal connection between patent operation and patent information and how does them 

interact? In order to solve these answers, we designed a questionnaire, analyzed the internal relationship between 

them, and finally put forward coping strategies. 

2. Research and Analysis of the Euestionnaire 

The patent operation in our country is in its infancy at present, so questionnaires have been distributed to the 

national patent operation pilot enterprises (mainly 30 production enterprises) and some well-known enterprises, 

and 16 valid questionnaires have been collected. Details are as follows: Sichuan Changhong Electric Appliance 

Co., Ltd., Baidu online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., BYD Co., Xiaomi Technology Co., 

Telecommunications Science and Technology Research Institute, Sany Group Co., Southwest Chemical Research 

and Design Institute Co., New Aut (Beijing) Video Technology Co., Zhonglian heavy Technology Co., Zhejiang 

Zhengtai Electric Co., Zhejiang Haizheng Pharmaceutical Co., Zhongguang Nuclear Engineering Co., Chongqing 

Runze Pharmaceutical Co., Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., China Aerospace Science and Technology Group 

Co., Huawei Technologies Co. 

By statistical analysis, the following conclusions are drawn: nine enterprises are chinese patent operation pilot 

projects, representing the overall development level of enterprises in our country at present; one enterprise plan 

declaration; fifteen institutions believe that the establishment of a sound or more perfect patent operation system; 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2018 

 61 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

fourteen institutions have established a standardized patent operation process; These show that our enterprises 

have a certain core competitiveness. 

Following, it is analyzed from the situation of patent application, patent authorization, patent operation, and patent 

information utilization in patent operation and so on. 

2.1 Status of Patent Applications and Authorizations 

1) Status of Chinese Patent Applications and Authorizations 

The chinese patent applications and authorizations of these sixteen companies are calculated that the average 

number of patent applications and the number of patents granted are respectively 8101.56 and 4377.44. As a patent 

application leader, Huawei Technology Co., Ltd. is far ahead in patent applications and licensing. The number of 

patents has laid the foundation for the operation of the patent. 

2) Patent Applications and Authorizations Worldwide 

It is calculated that the average number of patent applications and authorizations worldwide of these sixteen 

enterprises are 3914.69 and 887.63, respectively. The top four are Byd Co., the Telecommunications science and 

Technology Research Institute, and Millet technology Co. As the patent application leader, the number of patent 

applications and authorizations worldwide of Huawei Technology Co., Ltd. is also far ahead and improved the 

average; excluding its foreign patent applications, the average number of patent applications and authorizations 

worldwide dropped to 584.47 and 126.6 respectively. It shows that most enterprises in China have relatively few 

foreign patent reserves, which will affect their patent layout abroad. 

2.2 Application of Patent Information 

1) Sixteen enterprises have set up patent information utilization system, and most of them (68.75%) have set up 

perfect patent information system. This shows that enterprises as the main innovation, patent operation activities 

have paid great attention to the use of patent information. 

2) Free search sites that companies often use include the National Bureau website, the European Bureau, the United 

States Bureau and Soopat. It can be seen that 87.5% of enterprises use the website of the State Bureau to search 

for patents in China, while 87.5% use the European Bureau to search foreign patents. It is worth mentioning that 

Soopat is the most frequently used unofficial website because of its simple interface, fast retrieval and many other 

advantages. 

3) Compared with free search websites, commercial databases are less used. Among them, 43.75% of enterprises 

use intellectual property publishing house or 31.25% of enterprises use British Derwent, and the probability of 

using other databases is very low, less than 20%. 

4) In the application of patent information, almost all enterprises will use patent retrieval, patent infringement risk 

analysis, patent legal status query. 93.75% of the enterprises will carry out the specific domain / industry patent 

analysis, 87.5% of the enterprises will carry out the invalid patent inquiry, the product export country patent risk 

analysis, the patent early warning, 62.5% of the enterprises will carry on the patent trend research and the 

technology development trend patent navigation. 

2.3 Status of Patent Operations 

The results show that the main ways for enterprises to deal with patent are self-industrialization, cooperative 

transformation with other enterprises and licensing of others, and patent technology license, transfer and 

industrialization are the main mode of patent operation, among which transfer and license mainly take place within 

the enterprise. 

2.4 Difficulties and Needs in Patent Information Application and Patent Operation 

Of the sixteen enterprises, ten of them lack the patent information application talents, eight lack of patent data 

resources, six do not know how to apply the patent information in the patent operation. 

The statistical results show that enterprises most hope that the state will increase their support to local authorities, 

followed by providing a free patent analysis system, strengthening the training of patent information personnel, 

and establishing a perfect patent information service platform. Provides multi-level patent retrieval guidance and 

training. 

The difficulties and problems encountered by enterprises in patent operation, mainly lack of practical talents of 

patent information, followed by asymmetry of supply and demand information in patent operation, and lack of 

patent database. 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2018 

 62 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

From the above three investigation problems, it can be seen that enterprises take patent information practical talents 

as the main difficulty in patent information or patent operation, which indicates that our country should still take 

the cultivation of patent information application talents as the main task in the future. 

3. The Action Mechanism of Patent Operation and Patent Information 

Through the analysis of the questionnaire, we find out the current situation of patent information application in the 

patent operation of Chinese enterprises. At the same time, it is not difficult to find the relationship between patent 

operation and patent information. Patent information is the basis of enterprise patent operation, which provides an 

effective support for patent operation. The further development of patent operation promotes the prosperity of 

patent information, and the relationship between them conforms to the positive feedback mechanism. 

3.1 Positive Feedback Mechanism 

The feedback is divided into positive feedback and negative feedback. It refers to the return of information to the 

output, which has a certain impact and effect. 

Positive feedback is a form of feedback, it means that the function of feedback information is the same as that of 

control information. The main function of positive feedback in patent operation and patent information application 

is to amplify the small changes so as to promote the patent operation of enterprises in a stable state. 

The positive feedback mechanism refers to the interaction between objects. There is a force that encourages each 

other. It will strengthen and amplify the original development trend and form the inevitability that cannot be 

reversed. Therefore, the positive feedback mechanism means that the stronger can be strengthened. If an enterprise 

wants to maximize its benefits through patent operations and the use of patent information, it can promote its own 

patent operation level by making a series of systems and measures with positive feedback mechanism, so that it 

has a place in the field of patent. 

3.2 The Relationship between Patent Operation and Patent Information based on Positive Feedback Mechanism 

By analyzing the questionnaire, we can see that the patent operation and the application of patent information are 

in line with the positive feedback mechanism. The enterprises with successful patent operation also have strong 

ability to use patent information and grasp the patent very well. The proper use of patent information, to a large 

extent, has promoted the deepening development of the patent operation of enterprises. The perfect combination 

of the two is that the enterprise can fully realize its own benefit maximization. Of course, the use of positive 

feedback will also make enterprises more powerful in patent operation and patent information use. This problem 

cannot be ignored in our drive to deepen the development of patent operation. 

The patent operation of enterprises cannot be separated from the support of patent information. Its different links 

to the patent information demand each has the emphasis, also has its own unique demand. The deepening 

development of patent information is inseparable from the promotion of patent operation. Therefore, the 

foundation of patent operation is the technical scheme as the content of patent entity, which can be understood as 

technical information of patent. The validity of the patent right, on the other hand, is the guarantee of the patent 

operation, and it forms the legal information of the patent. Patent and its patented products in the market 

performance, the formation of patent market information. From the perspective of patent information,patent 

operation is a comprehensive application of technical information, legal information and market information of 

patents by means of finance, market and law. In this sense, patent operation is equivalent to the application of 

patent information. Convenient, fast and effective application of patent information is the key to the success of 

patent operation. 

Therefore, if an enterprise wants to have its own advantages in the era of deepening the development of global 

knowledge economy, it should actively focus on patent operation and the use of patent information, so that it has 

its own competitive advantage in the market. 

4. Countermeasures of Patent Information Application and Promotion in Patent Operation of Enterprises 

4.1 Improving the Consciousness and Ability of Patent Information Application in Enterprises 

In order to improve the awareness of the use of patent information in enterprises, we should start at the root. 

Actively building enterprise patent information culture to make it popular among the people. To actively create an 

enterprise environment for patent operation, management and staff can be regularly trained about patent operations 

and patent information. Develop the characteristic patent information training and mobilize the various 

departments of the enterprise according to the industry superiority of the enterprise itself. Build a good patent 

information application platform in the enterprise. 

 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2018 

 63 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

4.2 Strengthening the Cultivation of Professional Talents 

In order to meet the needs of government agencies, enterprises and institutions for patent information talents, the 

government should further strengthen the selection and training of patent information practical talents. Although 

the State Administration has selected four groups of patent information teachers and leaders, it has played a 

positive role in training patent information talents. However, after being selected, most of these talents are idle. It 

has not been fully utilized by provincial and Municipal Bureau and played their role. It is suggested that the 

National Bureau set up a talent management file for patent information talents (teachers and leading talents). By 

the local bureau (provincial and municipal) joint training, give them teaching, training opportunities, so that they 

can exercise, really play a role. 

4.3 Perfecting the Construction of Patent Information System 

If an enterprise wants to make full use of patent information to create market value for itself, it must constantly 

optimize and perfect its patent information application system to ensure the efficient operation of the enterprise. It 

is suggested that enterprises should build a unique system of sharing patent information achievements, a patent 

information training system, for example, develop different and patent information training for different levels of 

employees to improve their business ability. 

4.4 Strengthen the Communication of Enterprise Patent Operation 

With the integration of the world economy today, enterprises should pay more attention to cooperation so that 

patent information can be circulated in a wide range and increase in value, thus creating greater economic benefits 

for themselves. Enterprises can regularly hold some patent information exchange meetings to achieve "win-win" 

and "multi win". 

4.5 Speeding up the Construction of Patent Database 

At present, there are many free patent information platforms at home and abroad, such as Soopat, Innojoy, Patentics 

and so on. However, the free features offered by these platforms are simple and difficult to meet the needs of 

enterprises. But its charge function is actually expensive, each year approximately 2-3 million, the majority 

enterprise is difficult to pay. Therefore, the perfect patent database construction needs the government to increase 

the fund support, supports some conditional patent information service institutions to develop the public welfare 

function perfect patent information service platform. It also establishes some special databases which can be used 

by enterprises free of charge, so as to enhance the enthusiasm of enterprises to use patent information, thus 

promoting the deepening development of patent operation and patent information application in China. 

5. Conclution 

Under the background of economic globalization and knowledge economy, patent operation, as a key activity of 

technological innovation and industrial transformation and upgrading, is becoming increasingly important to 

economic development. In order to maximize the benefits of enterprises, our country should strengthen the support 

for patent operation and patent information, correctly understand the positive feedback relationship between the 

two, take measures to promote it, take both ways and grasp it with both hands. We will jointly promote the 

development of patent undertakings in China. 

References 

Hu, P., Huang, M. L., & Zhu, X. Y. (2013). Finding Nuggets in Patent Portfolios: Core Patent Mining and Its 

Applications. Tsinghua Science and Technology, 18(4), 339-352. https://doi.org/10.1109/TST.2013.6574672 

Tand, S. H., & Chen, J. X. (2010). Research on Component Law of Chinese Patent Medicine for Anti-influenza 

and Development of New Recipes for Anti-influenza by Unsupervised Data Mining Methods. Journal of 

Traditional Chinese Medicine, 30(4), 288-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0254-6272(10)60058-1 

Wang, J. C., Zhou, X. D., Hu, Y. Y., & Zhao, Z. L. (2018). An empirical research on the field of wireless charging 

based on patent life length. High Technology Letters, 24(01), 95-102. 

Xia, Y., Tang, L., Yao, L., Wan, B., Yang, X., & Yu, L. (2012). Literature and patent analysis of the cloning and 

identification of human functional genes in China. Science China(Life Sciences), 55(03), 268-282. 

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-012-4299-6 

Yuan, X. M., & Zhang, Z. Y. (2016). Studies of world carbon fiber industry from a perspective of patent analysis. 

High Technology Letters, 22(3), 313-320. 

Zhang, L. W., Zhang, Q., & Zhu, D. H. (2009). Application Research of Robust LS-SVM Regression Model in 

Forecasting Patent Application Counts. Journal of Beijing Institute of Technology, 18(4), 497-501. 



hssr.ideasspread.org   Humanities and Social Science Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2018 

 64 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Zhang, X., Li, Z. R., Zhao, Y. H., & Zhou, L. J. (2013). Studies of layout of world machine tools industry based 

on patent analysis. High Technology Letters, 19(3), 246-253. 

Zhi, L. P. (2014). Technological Development Situations of Ontology in China Based on Patentometrics.  Journal 

of Intelligence, 33(6), 79-83. 

Zhi, L. P., & Wang, H. S. (2012). A Patent Collaborative Management Model Between High-Tech Enterprises. 

Science of Science and Management of S. & T., 33(9), 113-121. 

Zhi, L. P., & Zhang, S. L. (2014). Research on Semantic Retrieval Based on Patent Ontology. Research on Library 

Science, 2014(7), 57-61. 

 

Copyrights 

Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. 

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 

license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 


