Recently, the "Forum on Reagent Development and Overseas Market Frontiers," jointly organized by Sinopharm Reed Exhibition Co., Ltd. and the National Chemical Reagent Information Center, and hosted by the Editorial Department of Chemical Reagents, was held in Guangzhou. Luo Xiao, Business Director of the Research and Consulting Department at Sunshine IP, was invited to deliver a keynote report titled Corporate Overseas Patent Layout and Infringement Risk Warning and Response. He provided professional insights for the reagent industry’s global expansion from multiple dimensions, including global patent infringement trends, risk warning strategies, and patent layout models.
Luo Xiao highlighted that patent disputes in the reagent sector exhibit significant regional distribution characteristics, with North America (47%), Europe (29%), and Asia (21%) being high-risk regions for infringement cases. The annual growth rate of such cases reaches 11%, with key areas of infringement concentrated in biomedical reagents, agricultural/industrial reagents, and testing kits. In Southeast Asia, patent litigation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields accounts for 58%, many of which are related to the reagent industry. These cases underscore the multiple patent risks faced by reagent companies, including lawsuits over patent infringement of exported products, removal of e-commerce products due to infringement, customs seizures, and intellectual property ownership disputes in technical collaborations.
To address potential patent risks in overseas expansion, Luo Xiao proposed a dual strategy of "Patent Warning Analysis" and "Patent Layout Planning". "Patent Warning Analysis" is a passive strategy that identifies potentially infringing patents through analysis and implements risk mitigation measures, such as designing around patented technologies, preparing prior art defense evidence in advance, or assessing the validity of high-risk patents. "Patent Layout Planning", on the other hand, is an active strategy. By analyzing competitors’ patent layouts in target markets and aligning them with a company’s own patent and technological reserves, targeted patent applications can be filed to enhance the efficiency and strength of patent protection.
Facing increasingly complex global patent competition, Luo Xiao advised companies to adopt the dual "Warning + Layout" strategy to reduce litigation risks and boost international competitiveness. Sunshine IP will continue to provide comprehensive services, from patent layout planning to infringement risk management, to support Chinese reagent companies in achieving a stable global presence.
