Shenzhen-based ZTE, China's second-largest telecommunications equipment maker has earmarked 6 billion yuan for research and development of new technology in 2009.

It's the core investment in the company's bid to be a top-tier company in the IT industry. In an exclusive interview with China Business Weekly in 2008 World Industrial & Commercial Organization Forum, Ke Xiaopeng, ZTE's IPR director says patented technology is a Chinese IT company's passport to overseas markets.

Going hand-in-hand with its technology research are the company's efforts to protect the company's intellectual property rights on the mainland as well as in other world markets.

"Proprietary technology and an IPR protective system are core to our overseas expansion plan," Ke says.

According to information from the State Intellectual Property Office, in 2007, a total of 5,401 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications were filed in China, a 41.2 percent increase over the previous year.

Of all the PCT applications, 5,221 applications were from China and 180 from abroad. Of all the applicants, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd ranked the first with 1,544 PCT applications filed in 2007. ZTE followed Huawei with a total of 430 PCT applications.

AT ZTE, as in many other large Chinese corporations, the core strategy to explore the overseas market is with "self-developed technology".

"Only an enterprise that owns the technology it developed can stay on top of the market," says Ke.

ZTE has 200 employees out of total workforce of 54,000 working fulltime on IPR matters. Every year ZTE puts aside 10 percent of its sales revenue for research and development of new technology.

"But if we have no protection system to protect our research results, our investments and efforts will bring benefits only to the counterfeiters," Ke says.

The company now holds more than 16,000 patents around the world. "Our main trademark has been registered in more than 150 countries," says Ke.

But that's only part of the story. The company has long recognized that it must combine its research and development prowess with an effective strategy to protect its IPR, so ZTE has adopted an integrated approach to IPR protection.