Encouraging corporations and the government to solve LED patent problems

There are numerous small and medium-sized enterprises in Foshan. However, the “shanzhai” incident continues to emerge. Patent plagiarism has become common practice, and intellectual property disputes such as patents and trademarks have continued. Recently, Chancheng has been granted full approval for the work of the National Patent Insurance Pilot Area, and the government has offered subsidies to insurance companies to guide enterprises to use market-based measures to protect their own intellectual property rights.

Nowadays, patents have become a weapon of war behind the scenes among enterprises in various industries, and LED lighting is no exception. Industry insiders predict that in the current situation where lighting core technologies are mainly controlled by European countries, it is very likely that there will be incidents in which foreign giants collectively sued local small and medium-sized lighting companies for patent infringement in the next 2-3 years. At the same time as the government moves in and guides, the enterprises themselves should raise their awareness of self-protection, and they must also respond to "clusters."

The status quo core patent issue becomes a barrier

It is understood that the patent warfare is a means and strategy for commercial competition for LED manufacturers. At present, the key technologies of global LED are patented by Philips, Osram, Nichia, and Toyoda Gosei. Cree's five major plants are firmly controlled by cross licensing. Although the technology application and promotion conditions of LED lighting have matured, most companies do not have LED core patents and technologies. This is the biggest problem faced by current domestic companies entering the LED industry.

The core patent barriers of lighting companies are like a sword hanging over the local LED industry. Because core patents are controlled by overseas companies, companies are at risk of patent infringement at any time. Dongping Nian, an LED consultant for Foshan Lighting, once stated that “At the start-up stage of the company, the large-scale patented company deliberately pretended to ignore it and adopted the 'fishing and fish farming' strategy. The fertilizer was then returned to the market and the new company was brought to court.” He pointed out that if China's LED industry does not have a patent, it means that there is no defense tool, and it is in a passively beating position in patent disputes and has no way to do it: On the one hand, enterprises fear that core technology patents are infringed by foreign giants, and on the other hand, they are their own inventions. The awareness of patent rights protection is not strong.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Intellectual Property Division of the Chancheng District Economic Promotion Bureau, Chancheng has a large number of building materials companies. In recent years, the company has a strong ability to innovate. From January to July this year, the number of authorized invention patents in Chancheng reached 139, but Compared with "high-yielding" invention patents, the way of protecting the rights of patented products has lagged behind. It is understood that since 2010, the Chancheng District Government has allocated 1.2 million yuan of special funds each year to provide certain subsidies for each insured enterprise, but due to the awareness of patent rights protection of Foshan enterprises is still not high, the number of patent insurance companies in the two years has not increased much. Only 113 companies have insured patents so far and 1300 patents have been insured.

Inviting government subsidies to guide enterprises to patent insurance

With the intensification of market competition, and in the context of trademark and patent disputes becoming normal, as early as 2009, Chancheng has creatively introduced financial protection to intellectual property rights and took the lead in carrying out patent insurance work in China, and in December 2010. The first domestic patent infringement policy was born on the 21st. In recent days, Chancheng District has also been granted approval to become the first patent insurance pilot zone in the country. In the future, if an enterprise applies for patented products, it can not only obtain the government-subsidized benchmark premium subsidies, but it can also receive a 90-fold premium compensation if it is infringed.

Unlike before, the amount of claims for this patent insurance has increased from 6 times the previous premium to a minimum of 15 times and a maximum of 90 times, and the number of patents insured is no longer set. At the same time, the Chancheng Economic and Technological Development Bureau also established a Patent Insurance Technical Experts Group and an Rights Protection Aid Group to provide guidance on corporate patent disputes and patent rights protection issues.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Intellectual Property Section of the Chancheng District Promotion Bureau, there are more ceramics, aluminum and building materials companies in Foshan insurance companies. Next, we will establish and improve the patent insurance service system, carry out patent custody of insurance companies, and formulate a process for the examination and approval of enterprise patent insurance applications. At the same time as launching more enterprises to participate in insurance, we will also prevent “wounded patents” from being insured. In addition, the Chancheng District Intellectual Property Office will also work with the District Finance Office and the Arbitration Commission to conduct the service and supervision of the patent insurance business and mediate and arbitrate the disputes arising from the patent insurance and claims process.

Liao Miaofen, senior manager of Haitian Seasoning Foods Co., Ltd., said that patent insurance can be settled immediately upon filing a lawsuit, and that there is a coordination of intellectual property protection associations, which can greatly reduce the cost of rights protection for enterprises. The reporter learned that Haitian has invested in the protection of 10 patents of the company in one breath, and has chosen compensation plans with a maximum amount of 90 times.

It is recommended that patent wars enterprises should hold a group to deal with

With the intensified market competition, patent disputes will become the norm, and how will the local lighting companies be in the future? In this regard, Wu Yulin, chairman of the Foshan Lighting Association, said that the more listed companies in the Mainland, the more objects that can be represented by an international giant, and that the mainland has a huge demand potential. In the near future, it will become a major LED industry. In the main battlefield of the contest, patent warfare may erupt. "In the current situation where lighting core technology is mainly controlled by European countries, in the next 2-3 years, it is very likely that there will be incidents where foreign giants collectively sued local small and medium-sized lighting companies for patent infringement."

Wu Yulin suggested that when the core technology of LED is currently in the hands of countries such as Europe, companies should “lock up” and seek development. For example, through the establishment of patent alliances to strengthen patent strategy research, on the one hand achieving the rational distribution of patents to prevent infringement; the other hand, the establishment of the alliance, as the beginning of the strategic integration of LED industry resources in the region, the domestic LED industry will break through Bottlenecks, accelerate the development of the LED industry, to obtain a number of autonomous intellectual property products, to deal with the international LED giant's "encirclement and suppression".

In addition, Wu Yulin believes that with patent insurance, because third parties have mediated patent infringement issues, companies can focus more on product development and operations. “Compared with large companies, this type of insurance is more important for small companies. In fact, smaller companies need patent insurance, especially those companies with only one or two patents. Once the defendant infringes, it is equivalent to losing the only patent. capital."

Patent insurance

Patent insurance means that the applicant insures the insurance company with the authorized patent as the subject. During the insurance period, the insurance company pays the investigation fee incurred by the insured person for patent rights protection in accordance with the contract. This type of insurance is used to cover the litigation costs incurred in defending its own patent rights or defending against the potential infringement of another's patent rights. Patent insurance is still fresh in the country.