3、與美國(guó)上司的意見分歧

3、與美國(guó)上司的意見分歧

歐美企業(yè)對(duì)Intellectual Property Right（知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)，簡(jiǎn)稱IPR）問(wèn)題尤其重視，他們會(huì)及時(shí)地為自己的invention and innovation（發(fā)明創(chuàng)新）申請(qǐng)patent，并將其作為企業(yè)發(fā)展的key technology（核心技術(shù)）。在歐美國(guó)家，任何未經(jīng)授權(quán)的人使用其注冊(cè)的patent都要向其支付巨額費(fèi)用，如果在沒(méi)有得到事先permission（許可）的情況下使用了他們的patent，就構(gòu)成了對(duì)其所有的intellectual property right的infringement（侵權(quán)），要承擔(dān)嚴(yán)重的法律后果。侵權(quán)的一方因?yàn)閕nfringement行為影響了自己的reputation（聲譽(yù)）不說(shuō)，還要支付大額的penalty（罰款），絕對(duì)是得不償失的做法。

對(duì)于企業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)，patent一向是企業(yè)發(fā)展過(guò)程中影響聲譽(yù)和利潤(rùn)的最大問(wèn)題之一，應(yīng)該在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上謹(jǐn)慎行事，不能侵犯別人的權(quán)益，但是更要注意保護(hù)自己的權(quán)益。在遇到自己企業(yè)的某項(xiàng)知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)遭到侵犯時(shí)，一定要努力借助法律等手段來(lái)維護(hù)自己企業(yè)的利益。

現(xiàn)在Nancy所在的Innovo就遇到了這樣的問(wèn)題——公司剛剛發(fā)現(xiàn)另外一家南方的private enterprise（民營(yíng)企業(yè)）仿冒和銷售他們剛剛研發(fā)推出的一款game software（游戲軟件）。據(jù)可靠市場(chǎng)調(diào)查，仿冒品所占的市場(chǎng)銷量已經(jīng)超過(guò)了正版。Innovo公司的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層對(duì)這個(gè)突發(fā)情況感到非常憤怒，卻又不知所措，因?yàn)楫吘顾麄儾皇窃诿绹?guó)。Johnson趕快召集各部門負(fù)責(zé)人開會(huì)，一起商量對(duì)策。

Nancy也感覺(jué)到了事態(tài)的嚴(yán)重性，因?yàn)楣具@個(gè)季度的revenue（收益）相當(dāng)一部分就依靠這個(gè)新開發(fā)的產(chǎn)品了?，F(xiàn)在遇到了這樣的問(wèn)題，損失是unpredictable（不可預(yù)計(jì)）的。沒(méi)有別的辦法，只能面對(duì)問(wèn)題并趕快找到解決方法，才能最大程度地減少公司的損失。

會(huì)議室里氣氛非常緊張，Nancy聽得出Johnson的情緒很不好，說(shuō)話的聲音都變了：

A small software company is making knockoffs of our latest product and selling them. I say that we must tell them right away to stop, or we'll take them to court. Do I have everyone's support on this?

I'm fully behind you on this, Johnson. If we don't show everyone that we'll hurt them when they do these things, other companies will start to make more knockoffs later.

Yes, we need to punish them, and let others see us punishing them, so nobody else will ever try the same thing.

There will be, however, difficulties. Companies have tried that many, many times before — it rarely works. If we stop this company, there will just be another company that will do the same thing. If there is a chance for making profits, someone will try it.

It's true. But we're cutting our own throats if we don't do something.

You all totally right. We need to, anyway, ask help from lawyers and find a solution. However, it might not work. We have to try another way out as well. I suggest that the Public Affair Department contact the software company and talk to them face to face. We use the "soft power" to let them stop.

What do you mean by "soft power"?

That is what the Public Affairs Department is good at. They need to sweet-talk the people. I suggest that we ask them to settle it.

Johnson顯然對(duì)中國(guó)的國(guó)情還不能夠完全理解和接受，但是Nancy明白，按照他的思路，把這個(gè)事情訴諸法律，效果并不見得就好，很可能兩敗俱傷。而通過(guò)符合中國(guó)國(guó)情的“軟手段”效果會(huì)更好。要真正了解和適應(yīng)中國(guó)市場(chǎng)，老外們要學(xué)習(xí)的東西還有很多。不過(guò)要說(shuō)服上司也的確不是一件容易的事，起碼要先做到以下這么兩點(diǎn)：

Respect what he says and express your standpoint in time.

If you have different points of view, express them in a soft and acceptable way.