Chinese LED companies suffering from patent barriers are seeking ways to break away from the bitter sea.
On August 30, the first LED patent technology industry alliance in China was announced in Shenzhen. Hundreds of Shenzhen LED companies reviewed and passed the alliance charter and the 2010 alliance work plan report. On the road to breaking the LED patent barrier, Chinese enterprises have taken another big step.
The pain of patent barriers
Shenzhen's LED companies still remember the US "337" survey that took place in 2008. On March 20, 2008, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) officially filed a "337 investigation" application for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and 30 companies including 4 mainland Chinese LED manufacturers received ITC reports. Complaint. As of August 2008, the number of companies surveyed increased to 10. Although the end of the settlement ended, but individual companies still pay a heavy price, so that these companies have been scared.
Since the LED core patents are mainly concentrated in the hands of major companies such as Nichia Chemical (Japan), Osram (Germany), Kerry (USA), General Electric (USA), Toyota Synthetic (Japan) and Samsung (Korea), these companies have With a large number of patents and a large market share, China's LED products have encountered many obstacles in export.
For China's LED companies, the professional barrier is the sword of Damocles that has been hanging on its head, and it is seriously damaged if it is not careful. According to the "LED Industry Patent Situation Analysis Report" jointly issued by the Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office and the Guangdong Provincial Information Industry Department in 2009, 20 companies in Europe, America and Japan have applied for more than 300,000 patents in the relevant patent countries for LED applications. It accounts for 85% to 90% of the total number of patents in the global LED field, while among the 62 chip companies in China, only 30,000 are applied for patents, less than 10%.
Xu Youjun, director of the Shenzhen Market Supervision Administration, also said that the number of LED patent applications in Shenzhen last year ranked first in the country in terms of 1,066, but compared with more than 1,000 companies in Shenzhen, the average number of patent applications per company was less than one.
Lin Xiaoning, deputy general manager of Jingke Electronics (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., also complained in interviews with reporters: "At present, foreign LED companies have mastered more patents, and foreign markets are therefore in a monopoly state. It is difficult for local enterprises to go abroad. "
In the face of patent barriers, in addition to the difficulty of exporting domestic enterprises, in order to use these technologies, high patent fees must be paid, and the LED industry is greatly affected.
Patent pool shelter
The LED patent alliance is promoted by the relevant departments of the Shenzhen Municipal Government. After the establishment of the alliance, the role of the government, industry, management departments and industry organizations will be fully exerted, and more voices will be won in the face of technology and patents to promote the development of the LED industry.
It is understood that the LED patent alliance will adopt the "patent pool" method, integrate many patents of patent holders, and can cross-license and permit each other. In the end, we will jointly promote LED technology research and development and patent applications in a group manner to avoid the adverse impact of patent barriers on the industry.
"The patent alliance can promote the company's research and development enthusiasm, reduce costs, and when it comes to patent lawsuits, it can also cope with the group." Gao Xiao Online CEO Zhang Xiaofei told reporters.
In fact, some industry experts have high hopes for the LED patent alliance. They hope that through the patent pool, while maintaining the domestic market share, they can help enterprises to more products into the international market.
However, Gao Xiaofei also expressed his worries. "Perhaps the LED patent alliance does not play a big role."
Gao Xiaofei said that most of China's LED patents are concentrated in downstream areas such as packaging and applications, while the upstream chip patents in the real core areas are not much involved. The establishment of this patent pool is still unable to get rid of the dilemma of China's LED patents concentrated in the middle and lower reaches. More importantly, as a patent pool, the joint investment of the alliance members is required. If one alliance member has more patents and the other alliance members have fewer patents, the final interests are difficult to coordinate. Moreover, the members of the alliance have the same external interests, while the internal ones are competitive.
He also believes that although there is a patent pool, the patents in it belong to the LED Patent Alliance and do not belong to a specific enterprise. When a company faces a patent case, the patent in the patent pool may not be recognized.
Some industry experts believe that on the road to avoiding LED patent barriers, the establishment of the patent alliance is only the starting point, and the road behind it is still very long.
Shenzhen Joy LED Display Co., Ltd. , http://www.joe-led.com