汽车公司抱团比掐架好

    理论上讲，竞争激烈的科技竞赛当然是好事，但当各家公司因违反知识产权而对簿公堂时，往往会使彼此陷入诉讼的泥潭而难以自拔，市场便会受到影响。比如，2008年，电动汽车制造商特斯拉（Tesla）就曾经指控合作伙伴及竞争对手菲斯克（Fisker）侵犯其专利。2010年，一家名为Paice的公司指控丰田汽车剽窃它的一项混合驱动系统专利技术，而且最终打赢了官司。虽然法律诉讼可能遏制竞争，但也会妨碍卓越技术的推广。

    不过，在竞争激烈的汽车行业，合作并不容易，尤其是这些厂商到最后将不得不再次调整策略，为了抢占市场份额而展开厮杀。奥尔森认为，要想合作顺利进行，必须明确各自共享哪些信息，合作各方也必须牢记，参与合作就必须做出贡献，不要抱着搭顺风车的想法。而且各方还必须解决复杂的知识产权问题，技术起源于设计，而一家公司如何与竞争对手区别开来，很大程度上便取决于设计。其他行业在这方面已经做得很好。弗吉尼亚大学达顿商学院（ University of Virginia's Darden School）商学教授迈克尔•莱诺克斯说：“看看iPod或其他任何一种消费类电子产品。它们设计中嵌入的各种技术都拥有专利。科技公司几乎都是交叉授权。”不过冲突确实存在：比如苹果（Apple）与三星（Samsung）之间糟糕的合作关系。

    不过，有证据表明，现在恰好是汽车厂商推出燃料电池的绝佳时机。莱诺克斯说，有人愿意为环保汽车支付高昂的费用。莱诺克斯补充说，生产只排放水的环保汽车还会给整个行业带来好处。汽车厂商有强烈的动机，希望摆脱单纯生产化石燃料驱动汽车所带来的监管障碍和消费者的不满。不过，这些汽车制造商也面临着严峻的挑战。技术需要继续改进，而且他们必须建设一种全新的燃料基础设施。这些都是难题，所以齐心协力解决问题才是当下的上策。(财富中文网)

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    A competitive tech race is good business in theory, but the market suffers when companies get bogged down when they sue each other for intellectual property violations. For example, electric carmaker Tesla accused collaborator-competitor Fisker of patent infringement back in 2008. A company called Paice won a lawsuit against Totyota in 2010, after having accusing the giant carmaker of stealing a piece of its proprietary hybrid drive system technology. Lawsuits may stifle the competition, but they hinder the rollout of exciting technologies.

    Cooperation is hardly easy among fierce auto competitors, especially because these companies will ultimately have to switch tactics again and compete with each other for market share. For it to work, there must be clear parameters on what information they share, Olson says, and participants have to go in with the mindset that they will contribute, not catch a free ride. Also, all parties have to resolve tough intellectual property issues especially when, for instance, the technology creeps into design, as design is a big part of how the companies will ultimately differentiate themselves from their competitors.

    Other industries have done this. "Think of the iPod," says Michael Lenox, a business professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School, "or pick almost any consumer electronic device. It's imbedded with technology that has a variety of intellectual property. Tech companies are all cross-licensing." Conflicts do arise: look at the soured partnership between Apple and Samsung.

    But there's evidence that the time is right for car companies to introduce fuel cells. We've seen that some people will pay a premium for green cars, Lenox says. The industry also has much to gain by building vehicles whose only emission is water, he adds. These companies have strong incentives to remove themselves from the regulatory hurdles and consumer ire that have come from strictly producing cars that consume fossil fuels.

    These auto makers face big challenges, though. The technology needs perfecting, and they'll need to build an entirely new fuel infrastructure. These are difficult problems and, for now, it's better to make nice and take them on together.