The Delhi High Court of India recently ruled that Xiaomi violated Ericsson’s patent and prohibited Xiaomi’s sales and import of mobile phones in India, which caused great concern. A few days ago, more foreign media reported that the Delhi High Court accepted the appeal of Indian mobile phone manufacturer Micromax and announced that it would ban the purchase of a mobile phone in India. The reason is that one plus mobile phone violates the system license agreement signed exclusively by Micromax and Cyanogenmod, and sells one plus mobile phone equipped with CM system. Nowadays, in the process of “collectively going out to the seaâ€, the domestically produced mobile phones with rapid development momentum will be plagued by patents. Experts said that China's mobile phone manufacturers should take a long-term view and make patent deployments in key countries or regions in advance, increase investment in intellectual property innovation, and should jointly deal with patent wars.
Since its entry into India in July this year, Xiaomi has gained 1.5% market share in the Indian market in a short period of time. This patent dispute will undoubtedly have an adverse impact on its “going out†plan.
In fact, China’s mobile phone manufacturers have encountered patent distress overseas, not from Xiaomi. In European and American countries where patents are more important, Huawei and ZTE, which have earlier entered the sea, have long encountered the patents of international giants. Today, in countries such as Southeast Asia and India where patent protection is not very good, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are beginning to encounter similar lawsuits.
It is worth noting that if Ericsson's lawsuit against Xiaomi can win, it is bound to attract the major giants to imitate. Not only will Xiaomi be besieged by international giants, but also Jinli, Oppo, TCL and other brands that are expanding in India and other countries and regions. Being targeted, all Chinese manufacturers are likely to be hit.
Li Sujing, secretary-general of Zhongguancun Mobile Internet Industry Alliance, said that innovation requires a lot of cost and effort, and imitating famous brands such as Apple and Samsung is generally regarded as a “shortcut†by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers. Excessive imitation not only damages the brand image of Chinese enterprises and products, but also undoubtedly increases the risk of falling into patent disputes.
Ai Media Consulting CEO Zhang Yi pointed out that a Chinese-made mobile phone, from chips, memory, screen and other hardware, to operating systems and other software, most of them use imported products, all the key links in the industry chain are not in their own In the hands, once the world giants use patents or other means to limit our enterprises in key technologies, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Experts said that patents have become a powerful weapon for mobile phone manufacturers to participate in overseas competition. They can not only be used to resist competitors' attacks, but also actively attack competitors. China's mobile phone manufacturers should take a long-term view and master and use patent weapons.
Liu Peng and other business leaders said that Huawei and ZTE are the pioneers of “going out to sea†among Chinese companies, and they have suffered a lot in patents. They have painstakingly thought about it. They have already established their own patent pools, and applied a large number of basic patents and peripheral patents overseas to build their own protection nets.
“Chinese companies should be prepared for success, not for failure.†Li Sujing and other experts said that Chinese companies should make patent deployments in key countries or regions in advance, otherwise it will seriously affect the internationalization of enterprises.
Peng Daqin, a professor at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said that companies should attach great importance to patent issues, and they can choose to communicate and authorize negotiations with patent owners, or reinforce them through acquisitions.
"At present, the best way is to warm up the group." Zhang Yi and Li Sujing suggested that an industry alliance specializing in patent issues can be established. Internal patent sharing, cross-licensing, and companies with fewer patents such as Xiaomi can give Huawei and ZTE. Such as the large patents of the appropriate economic compensation; externally reached an offensive and defensive alliance to jointly deal with the patent war.
After the establishment of the industrial alliance, if it encounters the problem of foreign companies suing Chinese enterprises, the industry alliance can investigate whether foreign companies infringe the patents of any enterprise in the alliance. If the company also infringes the patents of other companies in the alliance, the industry alliance can talk about cross-authorization to resolve the crisis. If it refuses to negotiate, the industry alliance can also initiate a peer-to-peer lawsuit in China, suing the foreign company for infringement, demanding a ban or even a fine.
Some people can't help but question that domestic mobile phones have been banned in the international market. Why is this phenomenon rarely happening in the Chinese market?
In fact, there are indeed differences in the formulation and specific implementation of patent-related laws in various countries. However, given the fact that Xiaomi does not pay for the use of human technology (patents), even if there are differences in the legal aspects, this basic fact is enough Xiaomi encountered patent litigation in the Indian market in the Chinese market. However, foreign companies in China have rarely filed patent litigation against Chinese companies that violate or use their own patents for free, but have been investigated on the grounds of monopoly. For example, Qualcomm's anti-monopoly investigation in China (the core is still charging patent fees) is still waiting for the results. It can be seen that in the Chinese market (such as the smartphone market), we may not have formed an effective patent protection system and awareness. This is from Qualcomm's previous claim that it is feared that some manufacturers in China will not pay GM's license fees, which may affect Qualcomm's future revenue and profits.
I don't know what the industry has seen here? Qualcomm is not worried about the lower licensing rate in the future, but is afraid that some Chinese companies will not pay royalties through Qualcomm's anti-monopoly investigation, or it will aggravate this trend (because many Chinese companies have not Qualcomm before) Pay the patent fee). And the background and reason for Qualcomm's anti-monopoly investigation in China (allegedly reported by Chinese related companies), there are quite a few people here to complain. Of course, we are not referring to all Chinese mobile phone companies here, but there must be so-called speculations or looting. Under this large market background, which foreign company will take the risk to sue Chinese mobile phone manufacturers (only mobile phone-related patent licenses)? The end result is likely to be a bite. Even if it takes a lot of manpower and material resources, it may not be able to get the results that you expected.
What puzzles us is that in the near future, Chinese mobile phone companies have suddenly begun to focus on patents. For example, previously rumored Huawei, ZTE and other manufacturers have to sue Xiaomi and other related companies for patent infringement or have not paid the patent license fee. However, these Chinese companies were allegedly required to conduct an anti-monopoly investigation on Qualcomm (because they used the monopoly status to charge excessive patent licensing fees). Is this really a great irony for our companies? Or the value of the so-called patent has become a replica of "useful is truth" in the eyes of our domestic manufacturers? For your own benefit, you can subjectively devalue or raise the value of patents. However, like foreign companies in China, although the patent wars between them are very powerful and even alarmist, they are always thunderous and rainy. It is certain that these manufacturers are also aware of the results of litigation in view of the current status of patent protection in China. It may not be possible, and may even be worth the loss, that is, the patent holders may not obtain any substantial gains through litigation, and the cost of the infringement of the patent is not enough to make themselves hurt.
In summary, we believe that Xiaomi’s ban on India is temporarily the result of China’s patent protection of Ye Gonghao and Qianqiang. The value of patents has been abused in some Chinese mobile phone companies and has not been reflected and patented as an offense. Or the role of defense, which may ultimately affect the innovation power and ability of our company in the industry. Maybe one day, when our related companies in the Chinese market have similar results in Xiaomi (not specifically Xiaomi) in the Indian market, even if It is temporary and a major step forward in our patent protection.
Shenzhen Joy LED Display Co., Ltd. , https://www.joe-led.com