3、與美國上司的意見分歧

3、與美國上司的意見分歧

歐美企業(yè)對Intellectual Property Right（知識產(chǎn)權(quán)，簡稱IPR）問題尤其重視，他們會及時地為自己的invention and innovation（發(fā)明創(chuàng)新）申請patent，并將其作為企業(yè)發(fā)展的key technology（核心技術(shù)）。在歐美國家，任何未經(jīng)授權(quán)的人使用其注冊的patent都要向其支付巨額費用，如果在沒有得到事先permission（許可）的情況下使用了他們的patent，就構(gòu)成了對其所有的intellectual property right的infringement（侵權(quán)），要承擔嚴重的法律后果。侵權(quán)的一方因為infringement行為影響了自己的reputation（聲譽）不說，還要支付大額的penalty（罰款），絕對是得不償失的做法。

對于企業(yè)來說，patent一向是企業(yè)發(fā)展過程中影響聲譽和利潤的最大問題之一，應該在這個問題上謹慎行事，不能侵犯別人的權(quán)益，但是更要注意保護自己的權(quán)益。在遇到自己企業(yè)的某項知識產(chǎn)權(quán)遭到侵犯時，一定要努力借助法律等手段來維護自己企業(yè)的利益。

現(xiàn)在Nancy所在的Innovo就遇到了這樣的問題——公司剛剛發(fā)現(xiàn)另外一家南方的private enterprise（民營企業(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)可靠市場調(diào)查，仿冒品所占的市場銷量已經(jīng)超過了正版。Innovo公司的領導層對這個突發(fā)情況感到非常憤怒，卻又不知所措，因為畢竟他們不是在美國。Johnson趕快召集各部門負責人開會，一起商量對策。

Nancy也感覺到了事態(tài)的嚴重性，因為公司這個季度的revenue（收益）相當一部分就依靠這個新開發(fā)的產(chǎn)品了?，F(xiàn)在遇到了這樣的問題，損失是unpredictable（不可預計）的。沒有別的辦法，只能面對問題并趕快找到解決方法，才能最大程度地減少公司的損失。

會議室里氣氛非常緊張，Nancy聽得出Johnson的情緒很不好，說話的聲音都變了：

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顯然對中國的國情還不能夠完全理解和接受，但是Nancy明白，按照他的思路，把這個事情訴諸法律，效果并不見得就好，很可能兩敗俱傷。而通過符合中國國情的“軟手段”效果會更好。要真正了解和適應中國市場，老外們要學習的東西還有很多。不過要說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：

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.