Abstract: Research on the present conditions of invention patent rights in China’s petroleum industrial area is of important significance to adjustment of a petroleum company’s policies on distribution of patents. An apparent gap still exists between China’s big-three oil companies and their foreign counterparts in maintenance of invention patent rights. The gap is reflected mainly in the number of efficient patents, the maintenance rate of patent rights, the maintenance time of efficient invention patents, and the different distribution of efficient invented technological areas. The efficient invention patents of foreign companies are averaged at about 443 items in the main technological area of China’s petroleum industry, while their maintenance rate of patent rights is relatively low, only 52.85 percent on the average. Of that, the efficient invention patent rights of international oil companies are concentrated in the downstream technological area while those of technological service companies are concentrated in the upstream technological area. The efficient invention patents of CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC are 9640 items, 25885 items and 2735 items separately in the main technological area of China’s petroleum industry. The maintenance rate of patent rights is 92.2 percent on the average. The efficient patents of CNPC and CNOOC are evenly distributed in the upstream and downstream areas while those of Sinopec are distributed mainly in the downstream technological area. The cost of maintaining patent rights, technological modernization and replacement, and corporate patent strategy and management system are the main influential factors for maintenance of patent rights. It is proposed that China’s oil companies should concentrate their distribution of patents on the downstream technological area -- an intensive market competitive area. The strategic distribution of patents should be based on the technological distribution characteristics of the competitors. Meanwhile, the Chinese oil companies should step up the training for R&D personnel so that the patent quality and intellectual property management can be improved at the beginning.

摘要： 研究我国石油工业领域的发明专利权现状，对于我国石油公司的专利布局策略调整具有重要意义。我国三大石油公司与国外公司发明专利权维持状况存在明显差异，主要表现为有效发明专利数量、专利权维持率、有效发明专利维持时间、有效发明技术领域分布不同。国外公司在我国石油工业主要技术领域的有效发明专利数量平均约为433件，专利权维持率较低，平均为52.85%，其中，国际石油公司有效发明专利权集中分布在下游技术领域，技术服务公司则集中分布在上游技术领域。中国石油、中国石化和中国海油在我国石油工业主要技术领域的有效发明专利数量分别约为9640件、25885件和2735件，专利权维持率平均为92.2%；中国石油和中国海油的有效专利分布均衡，中国石化主要分布在下游技术领域。专利权维持成本、技术更新替代、企业专利战略与管理制度是影响专利权维持的主要因素。建议我国石油公司的专利布局应侧重于市场竞争激烈的下游技术领域，针对竞争对手的技术分布特点开展专利战略布局，同时加大对创新主体的培训力度，从创新源头提升专利质量和知识产权管理水平。

关键词: 石油工业, 专利权, 维持率, 专利战略, 价值评估体系