Let's first take a look at the recent patent lawsuits initiated by several major patent holders:
1. Seoul Semiconductor issued a press release stating that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit for smartphone flash LEDs against Conrad Electronic, a large European electronic equipment distributor, in the Mannheim Court of Germany.
2. Seoul Semiconductor said that a German local court has ruled that Everlight Electronics' '2835 LED package' product distributed by Mouser Electronics constitutes patent infringement against Seoul Semiconductor, and issued a permanent ban on the sale of the product, and ordered it to recall related products sold since February 2017.
3. Epistar filed a patent infringement lawsuit against GMY, Lightinthebox Holding Co., Ltd., Light In The Box Limited, Lightinthebox International Logistic Co., Limited and LITB in the United States. Epistar pointed out in the complaint that the GMY LED filament bulbs sold and offered for sale on the GMY and LITB websites infringed several Epistar patents, and applied for an injunction from the court to prohibit GMY and LITB from continuing to sell the infringing GMY products.
These patent lawsuits are not isolated cases, but an increasingly intense collective industry behavior, especially the activities of foreign LED companies such as Seoul Semiconductor, Nichia Chemical, and Toyota Gosei.
For the actions of these international manufacturers, if domestic companies want to avoid being "hit", they must first figure out the real intention behind their actions.
In the past, the LED industry was formed by the cross-licensing of five major manufacturers, including Nichia Chemical, Osram Opto Semiconductors, Cree, Toyota Gosei, and Philips, forming a huge patent network. Any LED manufacturer that wanted to sell to overseas markets more or less had to pay "protection fees" to pass smoothly.
However, with the expiration of various patents, the rise of Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers as patent giants, and the efforts of mainland Chinese manufacturers to move up, the previous oligopolistic industry structure has been changing.
It can be said that the "cheese" that originally belonged to these international manufacturers has been targeted by more manufacturers, so they are anxious. They continue to launch patent strikes, one is to declare their industrial power, and the other is to protect their own interests by suppressing the rise of competitors.
So why are the situations faced by these former patent "powers" becoming more and more difficult?
First, the key patents are about to expire. For example, Nichia Chemical's white light patent, which is known as the gate god level, expired on July 29, 2017. In addition, Everlight Electronics in Taiwan, China, filed a patent invalidation lawsuit against Nichia Chemical's patents, and also obtained a successful judgment of patent invalidation in some countries such as the United States, which has greatly weakened Nichia Chemical's patent strength. According to Gaogong LED, more white light patents will expire in 2021.
As the patent walls built by LED manufacturers begin to collapse, the prosperity of these manufacturers in the past, which relied on patent barriers to call the wind and rain in the global LED market, may not continue.
Secondly, the actions of mainland Chinese manufacturers have brought many variables to the post-white light patent era. In recent years, the increase in R&D investment by mainland manufacturers has led to the conquest of many technological fortresses; in addition, Chinese manufacturers have obtained a large number of valid patents through mergers and acquisitions of some overseas assets, thus jumping out of the patent encirclement of international manufacturers.
In addition, more and more internationally renowned manufacturers have transferred orders to mainland Chinese manufacturers for OEM production, and the export share of Chinese manufacturers has also increased.
It can be said that the strong rise of Chinese manufacturers has posed a serious threat to the interests of these international manufacturers.
As a result, one after another "exciting" patent drama was staged. Of course, in order to protect and expand their own interests, patent manufacturers, on the one hand, turned patent litigation to downstream application manufacturers, forcing lighting manufacturers to change their previous procurement strategies; on the other hand, they strengthened patent authorization with mainland manufacturers to obtain considerable patent fees.
It is worth mentioning that the loosening of the five major patent networks does not mean that the door to patents is open, but only the beginning of a patent war. The strong position of the five major manufacturers' patent monopoly in the past no longer exists, and the gap between LED manufacturers has narrowed, and the patent war will continue.
Under this circumstance, domestic LED manufacturers still need to make early arrangements and plan ahead. "The fact that a few companies have obtained patent authorization does not mean that the companies in the entire domestic industrial chain can rest easy. In fact, this is just an exchange agreement between technology and capital. Other companies in the industrial chain need to make appropriate patent layouts according to their own conditions," said Dr. Zhao Hanmin, CTO of Jingneng Optoelectronics.
The overall development of the domestic industry is still moving towards centralization. The industry requires large companies to have patent development and innovation capabilities, and small companies to have their own unique technologies. The combination of the two will have bargaining chips for cross-cooperation with international giants.
In addition, the protection period of patents is also limited. After the expiration of the patent protection period, patent disputes may reappear, so it is impossible to enjoy cross-cooperation and obtain the ownership or use rights of the patent.
For enterprises, the layout of domestic and foreign markets should first be "patents before troops move". To avoid patent risks, it is more important to establish a patent management framework system for enterprises.
In recent years, the LED lighting industry has achieved rapid development by leaps and bounds, but after rapid development and growth, the symptoms of subsequent weakness in the LED industry have become more and more obvious, especially the patent part, which has become a bottleneck for the further development of LED enterprises. At this stage, many domestic LED companies that lack core competitiveness regard imitation and plagiarism as their way out, which has caused great harm to many companies that focus on patent research.
Therefore, we should gradually accumulate our own patents and face fierce market competition based on long-term market interests.
Ke Jianjun, chairman of Bild, said: "Only when patents are respected can the innovation enthusiasm of enterprises be stimulated. In the field of emergency power supply, Bild has built a complete patent "moat", and we will severely crack down on the infringement of the company's patented products."
It has to be said that the patent drama in the LED industry will continue to be staged, and domestic companies still need to "prevent problems before they happen."
