近年来，随着知识产权保护力度的增强及营商环境的改善，外国企业来华投资兴业、分享中国发展机遇的热情高涨，外国在华专利申请数量迅速增长，引起了广泛关注。作为跨国公司海外竞争战略的重要组成部分，外国专利的大量进入将不可避免地对国内企业产生多方面、持续性的竞争冲击。在推动建设更高水平开放型经济新体制的背景下，如何在全面提升对外开放水平的同时，合理有效应对外来专利竞争，充分把握市场竞争与技术创新主动权，对于培育参与国际合作和竞争新优势、实现高质量发展具有重要的现实意义。

在全球范围内，目前，中国已经成为外国发明人进行跨国专利申请的首要目标国，处于跨国专利申请网络的中心地位。不仅建立起广泛的跨国专利申请联系，还持续吸引着高强度的外国专利流入。这些外国专利分布领域广泛，又与本土专利布局高度相似，无疑会对国内企业产生强大的竞争压力。那么，从市场竞争与技术竞争两方面效应出发，外国在华专利究竟对国内企业产生了怎样的竞争性影响？通过何种作用机制实现？以及在不同条件下，竞争状态是否会发生动态转换？

理论上，外国专利将作为影响可变贸易成本以及研发成本的关键因素，分别作用于国内外企业的市场与技术竞争中。具体而言，外国专利的进入会改变专利持有人在东道国市场的产品被模仿预期，使其能够采取更为灵活的竞争策略，降低为规避模仿所造成的隐形成本。该可变贸易成本的下降将增强外国企业在东道国的市场竞争力，提高其市场进入意愿，从而扩大东道国的进口市场规模。与此同时，作为重要的国际技术溢出渠道，外国专利的进入增加了东道国企业可供获取的技术创新资源，有利于降低研发成本。但也将形成一定程度的专利垄断，挤占东道国技术创新空间。由此，外国专利将通过技术溢出和技术封锁两方面效应影响东道国的技术创新决策。在理论分析的基础上，以外国在华专利为代表，结合中国国家知识产权局、中国工业企业数据库和海关数据库匹配数据，基于市场与技术视角的实证研究发现：

外国在华专利具有市场扩张效应，外国专利的进入扩大了中国企业的进口市场规模。且主要促进了中、低技术制成品、中间品，以及来自中高收入和高收入国家进口市场规模的扩张，其市场扩张效应的实现依赖于外国在华核心专利申请。与理论预期一致，影响机制分析的结果证实了产品被模仿预期下降是外国在华专利影响国内企业进口市场规模、实现市场扩张的重要传导路径。产品被模仿预期下降程度越高，国内企业进口市场规模变化对外国专利进入的反应程度越强烈。不仅如此，外国在华专利的市场竞争效应存在着由市场扩张向市场垄断的转变过程。当超出外国专利进入的适度范围时，国内企业进口产品价格上升、进口产品数量下降、进口产品种类减少，进口福利受损。

外国在华专利对国内企业技术创新的影响既存在正向技术溢出效应，又存在负向技术封锁效应。尽管在总体上表现为正向技术溢出效应占优，即随着外国在华专利申请数量的增长，国内企业技术创新规模扩大、技术创新质量提升。但受企业异质性特征影响，存在着显著差异。外国在华专利主要促进了中、高生产率企业、高技术行业企业、以及中、东部地区企业技术创新规模与质量的提升，对低生产率企业和西部地区企业表现为抑制作用。影响机制上，外国在华专利主要通过学习吸收效应、技术引进替代效应及竞争效应影响国内企业技术创新。并且，随着时间的推移、外国在华专利进入强度的增加以及专利申请策略性动机的强化，外国在华专利影响国内企业技术创新的技术溢出效应与技术封锁效应之间存在着强弱对比的动态转化。

以上研究结论对于制定更加有针对性的专利政策、防范和化解外来知识产权霸权，把握“百年未有之大变局”所带来的战略机遇期、发挥企业主体作用实现跨越式发展具有一定参考价值。

In recent years, with the enhancement of intellectual property protection and the improvement of the business environment, the willingness of foreign enterprises to invest in China has been rising , thus the number of foreign patent applications in China has grown rapidly, which has aroused widespread concern. As an important component of MNCs' overseas competitive strategy, the large number of foreign patents will inevitably exert various and sustained competitive impacts on Chinses domestic enterprises. Under the background of promoting the construction of a new open economic system with a higher level, how to reasonably and effectively respond to foreign patent competition, and fully grasp the initiative of market competition and technological innovation during the period of improving the level of opening-up, is of great practical significance to cultivate new competitive advantages in international cooperation and participation, as well as achieve high-quality development.

On a global scale, China has already become the primary target country for foreign inventors to apply for patents, also the center of the cross-border patent application network. It has not only established a wide range of cross-border patent application connections, but also attracted high-intensity foreign patent inflows. The distribution of these foreign patents is wide and highly similar to domestic patent layout, which will undoubtedly exert great competitive pressure on domestic enterprises. So, What kind of competitive impacts does foreign patents impose on domestic enterprises? Through what mechanism? Will the competition state change dynamically?

Theoretically, foreign patents are the key factors of the variation of variable trade costs and R&D costs, which will influence its market competition effect and its technology competition effect respectively. In particular, foreign patents will change the product imitated expectation of patent holder in the host country, enabling it to adopt a more flexible competitive strategy and reduce the hidden costs to avoid imitation. The reduction in variable trade costs will enhance the market competitiveness of foreign companies and increase their willingness to enter the host country’s market, thereby expanding the size of the host country’s import market scale. Not only that, as one of the important international technology spillover channels, foreign patents could reduce domestic R&D costs by increasing domestic available technological innovation resources. However, as to its negative effect, it could also form a certain degree of patent monopoly which may squeeze technological innovation space of domestic enterprises. As a result, foreign patents will influence the host country’s technological innovation decisions through both the technology spillover effect and the technology blockade effect. Based on matching data from China National Intellectual Property Administration, Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database and Chinese Customs Database, the empirical research indicates that:

Foreign patents exist the market expansion effect. It has expanded the scale of the import market for Chinese companies, especially the import scale of medium-tech and low-tech manufactured products, intermediate products, and from middle-high-income and high-income countries. Also, the realization of the market expansion effect depends on their core patent applications. Consistent with theoretical expectations, the mechanism analysis results confirm that the decline of product imitated expectation explains the reason why foreign patents could increase the host country’s import market scale. Moreover, there will be a transformation process from the market expansion effect to the market monopoly effect due to the growth of foreign patents. Which means, as foreign patents increase to certain levels, the prices of imported products of domestic enterprises rise, while the quantities and the types decrease, thus import welfare impaired.

Foreign patents have both the positive technology spillover effect and the negative technology blockade effect on domestic technological innovation. Although, the positive technology spillover effect has taken the dominant position on the whole. That is, with the increase of foreign patent applications, the scale of domestic technological innovation has expanded and the quality has improved. There still exist significant different impacts according to the heterogeneous characteristics. Specifically, foreign patents have mainly promoted the improvement of technological innovation of medium-productivity and high-productivity enterprises, high-tech industry enterprises, and enterprises in the central and eastern regions, but have impeded technological innovation of the low-productivity enterprises, and enterprises in the western region. In terms of its influence mechanism, foreign patents have taken effect through the absorption effect, the substitution effect and the competition effect. Moreover, under different circumstances such as the passage of time, the intensity of foreign patents’ entrance and the strategic motivation of patent applications, the strength of technology spillover effect and the technology blockade effect will change dynamically.

The above research conclusions have certain reference value for formulating more targeted patent policies to prevent foreign intellectual property hegemony, and grasping the period of strategic opportunities brought by "a kind unseen change in a century" to achieve leapfrog development.