Abstract: This paper presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of patent litigation based on information from U.S. patent cases involved in Chinese enterprises. The author divided the patent characteristic into intrinsic trait, existed when a patent is born, and acquire trait, developed after a patent has issued. Three variables are used to describe intrinsic characteristics, claims, prior citations and family size. Patent maintenance, reexamination, forward citing, assignment, securitization and other variables are used to describe acquired characteristics and to analyze the relevance of patent intrinsic characteristics, patent acquired characteristics and patent infringement litigation. By using the U.S. patent cases involved Chinese enterprises, the relationship between patent characteristic and likelihood of the litigation is empirically analyzed. The result shows that the patents which end up in litigation have markedly difference in both intrinsic and acquired characteristics than patents that do not. On the other hand, such differences can provide additional indicia of likelihood of patent litigation, and help companies to identify the riskiest patents prior to the time of the litigation. The research has implications to the Chinese enterprises who want to extend the U.S market.

Key words: Chinese enterprises, international operation, patent risk, intrinsic characteristic, acquired characteristic