Asian Tech Companies Accumulate IP For More Aggressive Global Competition

摘要

For most of its six years, Xiao mi didn't worry much about patents. The Beijing company built its business selling cheap smartphones in China. But as the country's economy slows and rivals nip at its market share, Xiaomi is trying to expand overseas, giving it a greater incentive to grab hold of intellectual property. In June, it bought about 1,500 wireless, cloud, and multimedia patents from Microsoft for an undisclosed price. "If we find ourselves in litigation," says Hugo Barra, Xiaomi vice president of international, "we will use our IP portfolio to defend ourselves."