How domestic LED companies reduce the risk of infringement

From the perspective of the international LED lighting industry competition, the United States, East Asia, and Western Europe are three pillars. The high-end product market is occupied by a small number of international companies, and the entire industry is gradually forming. The core patent technology of the LED industry is mainly in the hands of large companies such as Japan and Philips. At present, some large foreign companies are not only in the number of patents, but also occupy an absolute advantage in quality. Zhang Zhicheng, Director of the Department of Protection and Coordination of the State Intellectual Property Office, told reporters that according to the strength of patents, combined with comprehensive analysis of the market, Nichia, Philips, Seoul Semiconductor, etc. have become the leading manufacturers, Toshiba, Sharp can be classified as technology vendors, most companies in mainland China It can only be classified as a company with potential for development. Like other emerging companies, it faces a greater risk of intellectual property infringement. Zhang Zhicheng emphasized that most LED companies in mainland China, whether they are patent reserves or cooperative copyrights, are very inadequate and cannot pose any threat to other large companies.

On the one hand, the number of LED patents submitted by domestic applications is relatively small, and the number of external applications is even smaller. According to Zhang Zhicheng, only 20% of patent applications in related fields filed by applicants in mainland China accounted for 38% of applications in Taiwan and 44% in foreign applications. The total application rate in mainland China is still lower than that in the Taiwan region. On the other hand, in mainland China's LED patent applications, 31.5% of invention patents were applied for, and most of the others were utility models and design applications; applications and packaging applications in mainland China accounted for 80% and 11 of the total number of applications, respectively. %, there is a lack of basic patents and core patents concerning the upstream technology and chip manufacturing of the industry. Zhang Zhicheng stated that the lack of patent reserves will make it difficult for mainland Chinese companies to grasp their active position in the product market competition. The current situation is already very serious.

According to Ye Zhican, intellectual property director of Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Property Exchange Center, from the perspective of the patent situation faced by LED companies in mainland China, in the field of epitaxial chips, the number of patents of foreign patentees is approximately 70%; in the field of packaging, domestic and About half of each foreign countries; in the application field, foreign LED giants also have a large number of layout. "In the field of epitaxial wafers, for example, there are more than 340 inventions authorized in foreign countries, but only more than 100 in China." Ye Zhican said, "And not only is there an absolute advantage in quantity, foreign patents for inventions are more central, because it It has entered the country in the form of priority and patent reorganization from abroad, and international giants have tried to get more important things from China to China for layout."

Strengthen risk prevention Prepare for response With the rapid development of domestic LED lighting industry, infringement and litigation have been getting closer to us. Prior to 2002, Nichia Corporation dominated the field of LED lighting intellectual property, followed by companies such as Philips and OSRAM. And start. At present, the five giants have completed cross-licensing of each other's patents and formed some form of industrial alliance, which controls the white LED industry. Zhang Zhicheng stated that patents have become an effective weapon for giants to maintain the existing industrial structure. With the advancement and maturity of technology, this industry structure is gradually solidifying. Once cross-licensing and alliance construction have been completely completed in major technical fields, it will mean that mainland Chinese companies can only work outside and downstream after entering this field. At that time, we may have industrial scale but no industrial profits.

Between 1996 and 2011, there have been nearly 180 LED-related lawsuits. The prosecution was dominated by Nichia, Philips, Cree, and Seoul Semiconductor. "Patent War is a war without smoke, and many times we are unknowingly infringing." Liang Bingwen, a researcher at the Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology and Nanosimulation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "A lot of international giants treat Chinese LED companies as a kind of pig raising. 'The state of mind, until the scale of production of domestic companies, they will not hesitate to lift the 'big stick' of intellectual property litigation." Liang Bingwen stressed that with the rapid development of the domestic LED lighting industry, infringement lawsuits have left us The closer you come. Although it seems that reconciliation is the final result of most lawsuits, the settlement must be dealt with by the prosecution party. If there is not a few patents that can be drawn, reconciliation is very difficult.

So how should domestic companies evade the risk of intellectual property infringement? According to Yu Tao, deputy director of the Intellectual Property Department of the Software and Integrated Circuit Promotion Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, first of all, he raised awareness and increased investment. Enterprises should take the awareness of intellectual property rights, gradually accumulate from the initial growth, and invest their dues in intellectual property. Second, external intellectual property rights can be properly introduced to win the purchase of some technology patents, and even a number of companies jointly funded to obtain a license. Again, according to the characteristics and advantages of the company itself, a certain technical link in the industrial chain was selected to conduct the patent layout and negotiate for the bargaining chip. Finally, we must pay attention to trade secret disputes. At present, the technicians of many LED companies in mainland China have been dug up from the Taiwan area. The relevant teams will not lead to technological infringement and disputes, and they must arouse sufficient attention from companies.