What are the common restrictive business practices in international technology trade

Basic Mode of International Technology Trade

The main modes used in international technology trade are licensing trade, technical services and consulting, franchising, co-production, as well as the sale and purchase of equipment containing intellectual property rights and licensing of proprietary technology.

1, licensing trade

Licensing trade is sometimes called license trade. It refers to the owner of intellectual property rights or proprietary technology as a licensor, through the license contract with the licensee (the introduction of the party), will have the technology granted to the licensee, the licensee is allowed to use the technology in accordance with the conditions of the contract, the manufacture or sale of the contract products, and the licensee to pay a certain amount of technology royalties technology trading behavior.

Licensing trade can be divided into patent licensing, trademark licensing, computer software licensing and know-how licensing and other forms. In the practice of international technology trade, a licensing trade may include one of the above content, such as simple patent licensing, may also include two or more of the above content, become a package license.

Licensing trade is actually a form of authorization of the licensor to the licensee to transfer the right to use the technology, but also to allow a certain degree of market trade behavior. According to the degree of authorization, licensing trade can be divided into the following five forms;

(1) exclusive license. It refers to the period and territory specified in the contract, the licensee to the transfer of technology enjoys the exclusive right to use, that is, the licensor itself and any third party shall not use the technology and sales of products under the technology. Therefore, the technology royalty for this kind of license is the highest.

(2) Exclusive license, also known as exclusive license; it means that within the period and territory specified in the contract, the licensee and the licensor can use the technology under the license and sell the products under the technology, but the licensor is not allowed to transfer the technology to a third party. An exclusive license excludes only third parties and not the licensor.

(3) General license. It means that within the period and territory specified in the contract, in addition to the licensee should be allowed to use the transferred technology and the licensor still retains the right to use the technology, the licensor also has the right to transfer the technology to a third party. A general license is the licensee's license with the least authority granted by the licensor and the lowest royalties for the use of the technology.

(4) Transferable license, also known as sub-license. It refers to the licensee is permitted by the licensor, within the territory specified in the contract, the licensee will be licensed to obtain the right to use the technology in whole or in part resold to a third party. Usually only the licensee of an exclusive or exclusive license is authorized to obtain such a transferable license.

(5) Reciprocal license, also known as cross-license. It refers to the transaction between the two parties or parties to the intellectual property rights or proprietary technology owned by them, on terms and conditions agreed by all parties to reciprocal exchange of the right to use the technology for the use of the other party. This type of license is mostly applicable between the patentee of the original invention and the patentee of the derived invention.

License trade is the most widely used technology trade method in international technology trade.

2. Licensing

Licensing is a new type of commercial technology transfer that has developed rapidly in the last two or three decades. It refers to a successful experience has been achieved by an enterprise, its trademarks, trade names, service marks, patents, proprietary technology, as well as business management methods or experience, such as wholesale transfer to another enterprise to use, by the latter enterprise (the franchisee) to the former enterprise (the franchisor) to pay a certain amount of royalties of the technology trade behavior.

Franchisee and supplier of the franchise industry, production and sale of products, services, the use of trade names and trademarks (or service marks) are identical, and even the store's facade performance, appliances, staff uniforms, product production methods, the provision of services are exactly the same way. For example, the United States of America's McDonald's fast-food restaurants in almost all parts of the world have its grantee, they provide the same services as in the United States, the production and sale of hamburgers taste exactly the same.

A franchise is similar to a license, but its franchisor and the general licensee compared to be more involved in each other's business activities, so as to make it in line with the requirements of the franchisor. This is because the transfer of the whole business, especially the transfer of trade names and trademarks (service marks), is related to his own reputation.

The relationship between the franchisee of a franchised franchise and the franchisor is only one of sale. Each franchised franchise is not owned by a single enterprise, and the franchisee's enterprise is not a branch or subsidiary of the franchisor's enterprise, nor is it a free association of separate enterprises. They are all independently operated, self-sustaining enterprises. Franchise entry does not guarantee that the franchisee's enterprise will be profitable and is not responsible for its profit and loss.

The franchise contract is a long-term contract that can apply to commerce and services as well as industry. Franchising is a very useful form of entry of manufacturers from developed countries into developing countries. It is also accepted by manufacturers in developing countries because of the low risk involved.

3, technical services and consulting

Technical services and consulting refers to the activities in which independent experts or panels of experts or consulting organizations act as a service provider to provide high-knowledge services to a client on a specific technical subject at the client's request and the client pays a certain amount of fees for the technical services. The scope and content of technical services and consulting is quite extensive, including product development, results promotion, technological transformation, engineering construction, science and technology management, etc., as large as the engineering design of large-scale projects, feasibility studies, as small as the improvement of a certain equipment and product quality control. Enterprises use "external brain" or external think-tank organizations to help solve important technical problems in the development of enterprises, can make up for the lack of their own technical strength, reduce errors, and accelerate the development of their own. China's "Second Automobile Works" commissioned a British engineering consulting firm to improve the design of the engine combustion chamber cavity, the contract came into effect within six months to achieve better technical and economic results. Technical services and consulting and licensing trade is different.

(1) licensing trade is to the technical results for the object of the transaction, while technical services and consulting is to technical services for the object of the transaction.

(2) The technology supplied by the technology supplier in licensing trade is new and unique technology monopolized by it, which are intellectual property rights or proprietary technology. Whereas in technical services and consulting, the technologies provided by the service provider are mostly general technologies, i.e., technologies other than intellectual property rights and proprietary technologies.

In the practice of international technology trade, licensing trade, especially the licensing of proprietary technology often contains technical services and consulting (such as equipment installation and commissioning, personnel training). And in the technical services and consulting activities, there are small, but also to provide services to its patented or proprietary technology to complete its service tasks. Licensing trade and technical consulting services is the international technology trade in two basic trade methods, other forms of technology trade are generally these two ways in special circumstances or contains these two ways.

4, co-production

For co-production, there are a variety of different understandings. From the perspective of international trade in technology, co-production refers to the enterprises belonging to different countries according to the contract they signed, by one party to provide the relevant production technology or the parties to provide different relevant production technology, *** with the production of a certain contract products, and in the production process of international technology transfer to achieve a form of economic cooperation.

Cooperative production of one or all parties have a special technology for the production of a certain contract product, in the process of cooperative production through one-way licensing or two-way cross-licensing, may be supplemented by a certain technical services and consulting, so as to realize the international technology transfer.

Cooperative production, as a mode of international trade in technology, is not an independent basic mode of trade in technology, but in fact it is nothing more than licensing trade and technical service consulting based on the purpose of cooperative production of the parties. The purpose of this kind of technology trade is different from the pure technology trade, it is for the cooperative production of the parties.

5, containing intellectual property rights and proprietary technology transfer of equipment trading

In the actual business of international trade, in the purchase of equipment, especially key equipment, sometimes also contains intellectual property rights or proprietary technology transfer content. This kind of equipment sale also belongs to a way of technology trade. However, the simple sale of equipment, i.e., does not contain intellectual property rights and proprietary technology license for the purchase and sale of equipment belongs to the general merchandise trade, not trade in technology.

The sale of equipment containing intellectual property rights and proprietary technology transfer, the subject matter of the transaction contains two aspects:

One is the hardware technology, that is, the equipment itself;

The second is the software technology, that is, the equipment contained in the equipment or equipment-related technical knowledge. These technical knowledge is divided into two parts: one part belongs to the general technical knowledge, the other part is patented and proprietary technology. The transaction price of such equipment includes not only the cost of production of the equipment and the advance profit, but also the value of the relevant patented or proprietary technology. In the contract for the purchase and sale of such equipment contains patent and know-how licensing terms and technical services and consulting terms.

This form of technology transfer accounts for a large proportion of the technology trade between developed and developing countries. It is also commonly used in engineering contracting. In addition to the above five cases, the practice of licensing trade is also often found in the compensation trade, a party to provide equipment containing patents or proprietary technology, the party to the export of equipment and technology licensing of a combination of technical equipment to the other party to provide the other party to the other party to the equipment produced by the other party to compensate for the price of the technology and equipment or other products. The practice of licensing trade is also often found in joint ventures. Or the party who owns patents and know-how directly transfers its technology and implements the technology as shares; or the party who obtains the right to use others' patents or know-how through licensing, with the permission of the party who owns the technology, carries out the re-transferring of the technology to the joint venture by way of sub-licensing

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