经济学人172:知识产权,发明之战

 　　Intellectual property

　　知识产权

　　Inventive warfare¹

　　发明之战

　　Battles over patents are becoming fiercer and more expensive

　　专利之战，愈演愈烈，愈烈价更高

　　THIS deal is all about patents. That was the near universal view of Google’s announcement this week that it was taking over Motorola Mobility², a maker³ of handsets and other devices, for a colossal⁴ $12.5 billion. Indeed, the purchase will provide Google with an awful lot of patents: around 17,000 of them issued and another 7,500 pending⁵. They should help Google in its efforts to get more smartphones and other mobile devices running on its Android operating system (see article). But it could also make the battles over patents nastier and more costly⁶.

　　这笔交易归根结蒂就是谋求专利。这是多数人对谷歌本周宣布以125亿美元天价收购手机及其他电子产品制造商摩托罗拉这一消息的普遍看法。实际上，此项交易为谷歌带来数量极其庞大的专利：约1.7万项已审批，另外7500项待审批。这些专利有助于歌获得更多运行安卓操作系统的智能手机以及其他移动设备 (见 文)。但是这也会使对专利的争夺愈演愈烈，代价更高。

　　A scramble⁷ for patents had already begun. In December four companies, including Microsoft and Apple, paid $450m for around 880 patents and applications owned by Novell, an ailing⁸ software firm. In July those two and four others, including Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, spent $4.5 billion on 6,000 patents owned by Nortel, a bankrupt Canadian telecoms-equipment maker. Before its latest deal, Google bought 1,000 patents from IBM. Firms are also suing each other. Apple claims its technology has been copied by Samsung and Motorola in their Android phones. Oracle⁹ is suing Google for up to $6 billion, claiming that Android infringes¹⁰ its patents. Microsoft is suing Motorola over Android too. Nokia recently settled a similar quarrel with Apple.

　　专利争夺战早已打响。早在12月，包括微软及苹果在内的四间公司就支付境况不佳的Novell4.5亿美元以购买约880项专利和应用程序。今年七月，其中的两间公司及包括黑莓厂商动态研究公司在内的另外四家公司购买加拿大倒闭的电信设备厂商Nortel的6000项专利。此前，谷歌就从IBM公司购买了1000项专利。同时，各公司也在互相倾轧。苹果声称其技术已被三星及摩托罗拉在其安卓系统中盗用。甲骨文公司起诉谷歌公司，称安卓系统侵权，要求索赔60亿美元。微软公司也起诉摩托罗拉的安卓系统。诺基亚公司最近刚刚与苹果公司解决一个类似冲突。

　　What is going on? Some say companies are attaching more value to intellectual property. Indeed, the Google deal seems to have been priced on a cost-per-patent basis, causing the share prices of other firms with lots of patents to rise. Others, however, think the battles reflect deficiencies in the patent system forcing firms to pay vast sums to protect technologies they have developed. The answer is a bit of both.

　　这到底是怎么回事？有些人说这是各公司跟看重知识产权。实际上，谷歌交易似乎就是通过每项专利的成本而进行估价，这就致使拥有专利众多的公司的股价攀升。但是，也有人认为此类争夺正反映了专利认证体系的缺陷——迫使公司大笔投入保护其开发技术。答案二者兼有。

　　System failure

　　体系缺陷

　　Kent Walker, one of Google’s senior lawyers, grouses¹¹ at being forced to spend a lot of money defending the company against frivolous¹³ lawsuits¹⁴ by rivals. Others counter that as computing¹⁵ goes mobile, it favours information-technology firms that have invested in research for years and that Google was naive—or idealistic—to broaden its IT business without having a stack of patents. There is a retort to that, too: that incumbents¹⁶ can use patents as barriers to entry, which is why America’s antitrust regulators are showing interest in them. In April the Department of Justice demanded changes to Novell’s patent sale to protect open-source software.

　　谷歌的一名高级律师肯特·沃克尔（Kent Walker)就抱怨说，公司不得不花大笔钱应对竞争对手杂七杂八的诉讼。有些人则辩解称，随着移动电话的计算机化，多年投入于研发的信息技术公司会备受宠爱，而谷歌太幼稚——或者说理想化，想在没有专利储备的情况下就扩展其IT业务。对此说法也有不同意见：监管者可利用专利作为市场准入的障碍——这就是为什么美国反垄断监管者对专利感兴趣的原因所在。四月，美司法部要求Novell公司改变出售专利，以保护开源软件。

　　Nowadays, innovations in IT usually rely on many small improvements involving numerous technologies, which means it is not always clear precisely¹⁷ which inventions a patent covers. The open secret is that everyone infringes everyone else’s patents in some way. This creates an incentive¹⁸ for firms to build up their patent portfolios¹⁹ to strengthen their position in negotiations²⁰, leading to what some liken to an arms race. The legal tussles²¹ usually end in cross-licensing²² deals, in which small sums of money change hands. This is considered preferable to a mutually destructive exchange of endless lawsuits.

　　时至今日，IT产业的创新大多依赖于众多技术的点滴改善，这就意味着通常不是很明确一项专利到底包含哪些发明。大家都不同程度侵犯彼此的专利，这已是心照不宣。这就无形中促使公司逐渐扩大专利组合，来增加谈判筹码，这就造成像是军备竞赛的结果。法律纠纷通常以交换使用专利权而告终，只有少量现金易手。人们普遍接受这要比彼此没完没了的诉讼，互相伤害好。

　　The patent battle has become more contentious²³ than ever. One reason is the mobile phone has provided a new platform of computing that firms want to dominate. Also, such a backlog²⁴ of applications built up at America’s patent office (now more than 1m, with a waiting time of around three years) that standards slipped. Dubious²⁵ patents were granted, helped in part by court rulings that allowed patents to stand on some software and “business methods” that many thought no one could lay claim to. In Europe and Japan, where patentability standards are higher, this is less of a problem.

　　专利争夺战越来越有争议，前所未有。原因之一就是移动电话提供了计算新平台，而这是各公司竞相追逐的。还有，美国专利局的标准下降，此类等待注册的应用程序逐年增加（现在有超过1百万项要等待约三年时间）。有争议的专利获得通过，这部分得益于法庭允许某些软件及“商业方法”获得专利，而这些人们普遍认为没有人会申请专利。在专利标准较高的欧洲和日本，就没有此类问题。

　　Making things even more troublesome is that as lawsuits became particuarly lucrative²⁶ some companies entered the fray²⁷ to feed off them. Non-practicing entities²⁸ (NPEs), which have intellectual property but no actual products, include such august bodies as the Harvard Medical School. But some NPEs are derided²⁹ as “trolls” because their sole purpose seems to be to exploit the legal system by demanding licensing fees from companies, sometimes for questionable³⁰ patents. Over the past 15 years, the median award to NPEs of damages for patent infringement³¹ has doubled while that for other firms has declined (see chart).

　　更麻烦的是诉讼特别有利可图，一些公司因此加入到混战当中，以此为业。非执业实体机构有知识产权，但是没有实际产品，哈佛医学院这类众相追捧的机构就属此列。但是有些非职业实体机构（Non-practicing Entities）因为其唯一目的就是利用法律体系，从使用公司收取专利费（有些专利颇受质疑），而被贬称为“诱饵公司”。过去15年里，裁决非职业实体机构侵权赔偿损失的平均赔偿数额增加一倍，而对其他公司的裁决减少（见图）。

　　Court rulings in America have begun to clip the trolls’ beards by making it harder to win injunctions and by strengthening the criteria³² for whether an invention is truly “non-obvious”. Microsoft has seen the number of suits filed in the famously plaintiff-friendly district court of Eastern Texas fall from 17 in 2007 to just two so far this year, says Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel. However, as big companies have improved their defences, the trolls have changed their tactics and are now going after start-ups.

　　美国法院裁决开始通过使“诱饵公司”更难获得禁令并就一项发明是否真的“非人所共知（non-obvious）”强化标准，来精简“诱饵公司”。在以偏向于原告而出名的德克萨斯州东部的地方法院，对微软提起的诉讼从2007年的17件降至今年的仅2件，微软法律总顾问布拉德·史密斯（Brad Smith）说。但是，随着大公司胜诉增加，“诱饵公司”也一改策略，开始追逐初创公司。

　　New legislation could change things. David Kappos, director of America’s patent office, says the America Invents Act could amount to “the most sweeping³³ reforms to the US patent system in 175 years.” It is expected to be passed this autumn, Barack Obama has indicated that he will sign it, and big IT and drug companies support it. But many entrepreneurs and venture capitalists do not, arguing that it does not fix any of the system’s big problems and risks creating new ones.

　　新法案有望扭转乾坤。美国专利局局长大卫·卡波斯（David Kappos）说，美国发明法（the America Invent Act）有望“彻底改变美国175年历史的专利体系。”该方案预计会在今年秋季通过，巴拉克·奥巴马已表示他会签署通过该方案，而且大型IT公司和只要企业也对该法案给予支持。但是许多企业家和风险投资人却对此不屑一顾，认为这不会解决这一体系的大问题，而有制造新问题的风险。

　　The most contentious point is a change to determine who is the rightful inventor. Instead of being the “first to invent”, the successful applicant³⁴ would be the “first to file”, the standard used worldwide. Harmonising America’s rules with those in other countries would be a step towards greater co-operation and efficiency in patent examinations globally. Big companies like the proposal because it gives them more legal certainty that someone will not appear claiming they came up with the idea first. But inventors like Steve Perlman, the founder³⁵ of WebTV and other firms, argue that it forces companies to file for patents before their inventions are fully³⁶ developed. That, says Mr Perlman, would lead to yet more incremental³⁷ improvements rather than big innovative³⁸ steps and put a toll³⁹ on America’s competitiveness.

　　最有争议的一点就是决定谁是合法发明人产生了变化。代替首位发明，而采用“首位注册”为成功申请人这一世界通行的标准，使美国的规则与其他国家的一致，是为全球专利检验加大合作与提高效率迈出的一步。大公司喜欢这一提议，因为在法律上他们有更大的把握，有些人不会出庭宣称自己首先想出创意。但是WebTV及多家公司的创始人史蒂夫·帕尔曼（Steve Perlman）这样的投资人辩称，这会迫使公司在发明完全开发出之前就注册专利。帕尔曼先生说，那会导致更多的数量增长，而非大的创新发展，从而对美国的竞争力造成伤害。

　　For the moment, though, companies are amassing⁴⁰ ever larger arsenals⁴¹ of patents. Google, for one, was hit by eight lawsuits in April alone—more than in the first five years of its 13-year existence, says Mr Walker. “See how far we have strayed from the notion of innovation, that we need to acquire patents to fend¹² off potential suits,” he says of the firm’s overall strategy. “That money could have been spent on engineers, to much more productive use.”

　　尽管如此，现在各公司增加的专利储备越来越多。就拿谷歌来说，四月就接受了八起诉讼——比其成立13年历史中中前五年的接受诉讼都多，沃克尔说。“来看看我们到底已偏离创新概念多远了。我们需要以获得专利来防范诉讼，”他谈到公司的总体战略时说。“那些钱本可以花在工程师身上，用在更高效的地方。”

1 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

2 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

5 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

8 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

9 oracle   

n.神谕，神谕处，预言

参考例句：

• In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候，她祈祷神谕来指引她。
• It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕，常常能预言最重要的事情。

10 infringes   

v.违反（规章等）( infringe的第三人称单数 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等）

参考例句：

• Congressmen may be reluctant to vote for legislation that infringes the traditional prerogatives of the states. 美国国会议员可能不情愿投票拥护侵犯各州传统特权的立法。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• I can't say whether CP21 infringes it or not. 我就不能说CP21是否侵犯了SPOT的专利。 来自企业管理英语口语（第二版）(2)

11 grouses   

n.松鸡( grouse的名词复数 )；松鸡肉v.抱怨，发牢骚( grouse的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• If you've got any grouses, you`d better tell me about them. 你若有什麽不满就跟我说。 来自辞典例句
• If you've got any grouses, you'd better tell me about them. 你若有什么不满就跟我说。 来自互联网

12 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

13 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。

14 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

15 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

16 incumbents   

教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 )； 教会中的任职者

参考例句：

• In general, incumbents have a 94 percent chance of being reelected. 通常现任官员有94%的几率会再次当选。
• This arangement yields a wonderful gain to incumbents. 这种安排为在职人员提供了意外的得益。

17 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

18 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

19 portfolios   

n.投资组合( portfolio的名词复数 )；（保险）业务量；（公司或机构提供的）系列产品；纸夹

参考例句：

• Price risk arises in non-trading portfolios, as well as in trading portfolios. 价格风险中出现的非贸易投资，以及在贸易投资组合。 来自互联网
• How do we fatten our portfolios and stay financially healthy? 我们怎样育肥我们的投资结构和维持财政健康呢？ 来自互联网

20 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

21 tussles   

n.扭打，争斗( tussle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They need no running fights with large, fierce rats or tussles with grown rabbits. 它们不必奔跑着与大又凶的老鼠搏斗了，也不必跟大兔子扭斗了。 来自辞典例句
• The magazine has had a series of tussles with Asian governments. 该杂志曾与亚洲多国政府发生争执。 来自互联网

22 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

23 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

24 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

25 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

26 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

27 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

28 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

29 derided   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His views were derided as old-fashioned. 他的观点被当作旧思想受到嘲弄。
• Gazing up to the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity. 我抬头疑视着黑暗，感到自己是一个被虚荣心驱使和拨弄的可怜虫。 来自辞典例句

30 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

31 infringement   

n.违反；侵权

参考例句：

• Infringement of this regulation would automatically rule you out of the championship.违背这一规则会被自动取消参加锦标赛的资格。
• The committee ruled that the US ban constituted an infringement of free trade.委员会裁定美国的禁令对自由贸易构成了侵犯

32 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

33 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

34 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

35 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

36 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

37 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

38 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

39 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

40 amassing   

v.积累，积聚( amass的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of taxonomy must necessarily involve the amassing of an encyclopaedic knowledge of plants. 分类学研究一定要积累广博的植物知识。 来自辞典例句
• Build your trophy room while amassing awards and accolades. 建立您的奖杯积累奖项和荣誉。 来自互联网

41 arsenals   

n.兵工厂，军火库( arsenal的名词复数 )；任何事物的集成

参考例句：

• We possess-each of us-nuclear arsenals capable of annihilating humanity. 我们两国都拥有能够毁灭全人类的核武库。 来自辞典例句
• Arsenals are factories that produce weapons. 军工厂是生产武器的工厂。 来自互联网