A CASE STUDY OF PATENT DEVELOPMENT OF CHUNGHWA TELECOM IN THE DIGITAL CONVERGENCE ERA

This study investigates Chunghwa Telecom for its patent activities in Taiwan, China and the U.S. and explains its patent development with the business strategy in the digital convergence era. After the privatization of Chunghwa Telecom in 2005, facing the competition in the telecommunications market, three factors are considered by Chunghwa Telecom in patent filing strategy for innovation: 1) whether to remain as trade secrets, 2) commercialization of the technology, and 3) the scale of the commercialization, especially in the decision for foreign filings. The patent portfolios are established in the fields of data switching networks, secure communication, positioning, ticketing, and digital TV. The filing strategy is directionally aligned with the business development of Chunghwa Telecom in the vision of “multiple screens and a cloud” in digital convergence. Given the advantages in telecommunications technology, this study recommends that the patent portfolio of Chunghwa Telecom can be enhanced with more innovations in interactive services cross devices in the digital convergence era.