Editor's note: Following the patent litigation between Huawei and Samsung and other handset manufacturers, Coolpad and Xiaomi also launched a patent war. Recently, Xiaomi has just been exposed to IPO plans in the second half of 2018. Coolpad announces the announcement to the public that Xiaomi's Xiaomi Communication Technology Co., Ltd., millet technology limited liability company, millet House Commercial Co., Ltd. Shenzhen, the first branch, and Shenzhen Tongtian Da Communications Electronics Co., Ltd. infringed the Cool subsidiary Yulong three patents for inventions and Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court has filed a lawsuit.
With the increasingly fierce competition in the smart phone market, patent litigation among handset manufacturers is also becoming more and more frequent. Following the patent litigation between Huawei and Samsung mobile phone manufacturers, Coolpad and Xiaomi also launched the patent war, causing the society High degree of concern from all walks of life.
Recently, millet has just been exposed 2018 will be the second half of IPO plans, Cool Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Cool) on the external announcement, said Xiaomi MiX Communication Technology Co., Ltd., millet technology limited liability company, millet House Commercial Limited Shenzhen First Branch and Shenzhen Tongtianda Communication Electronics Co., Ltd. infringed three invention patents of Coolpad Affiliated Company Yulong Computer Communication Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yulong Company) Intermediate People's Court filed a lawsuit against them, experts said Cool as a veteran mobile phone manufacturers, over the years a large number of patents, choose to appear before the competitor listing 'killer', intended to exercise their patent interests to maximize their own economic interests At the same time, in the current maturing mobile phone market, proper patent litigation is conducive to raising the corporate emphasis on intellectual property, continuously improving the industry standard and producing more high-quality patents, thereby promoting the overall development of the mobile phone industry.
Litigation interests first
Founded in 1993, Yulong is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coolpad Group and a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Mobile. It is a professional solution provider for smart phone terminals and value-added services in China. The company has worked in the field of dual-SIM dual standby and dual-mode smartphones Unique and, and Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and other handset manufacturers common domestic mobile phone ranked first echelon mobile phone technology research and development in areas with strong patent strength.It is understood that the cool prosecution millet patent infringement of the three invention patents respectively Is: 'collaboration method of mobile communication terminal and its interface system' (patent number: ZL200610034034.8), 'processing method of new events of terminal and application' (patent number: ZL201210250264.3), 'terminal and application icon Management Method '(Patent No .: ZL201210064396.7).
Why the cool will choose to start patent litigation millet millet IPO lawsuit whether the impact? Both patent strength? In this regard, Wang Yanhui, secretary general of China Mobile Alliance told reporters: 'was established in 2010 millet, in recent years With a good mobile handset market, millet ranked 9th among the best-selling smartphones in the Chinese market in 2017. Not only is it selling well in the domestic market, but sales in overseas markets such as India are also on the rise, IPO started in the second half of 2018. Compared with Xiaomi, Cool has been developing more slowly in recent years, especially with the increasingly fierce market competition and business strategy changes, and its ranking in the mobile phone market has been declining year by year.Facing the competition, Patent litigation on the eve of the IPO is undoubtedly the best choice for the cool.Under the lawsuit, Coupe can hinder the process of millet listing, so that millet reached a settlement with their own, so as to obtain some economic benefits.
A senior intellectual property expert in the field of mobile phones who asked not to be named said that at present, Coolpad's mobile phone market share in the domestic market continues to decline, although its sales in foreign markets but a smaller market share.Cool does not have a larger volume of mobile phones The market as a millet to carry out patent litigation target, therefore, the cool is not worried about the counterclaim filed by millet, but does not rule out the possibility of millet initiated counterclaims.At the same time, the cool due to have a certain patent reserves, and in patent applications and maintenance of a large investment Of the patent, at this time to carry out patent litigation, is conducive to its own intangible assets into capital gains.This lawsuit appears to be millet and co-founder of the patent business disputes, in fact, is the old and the new mobile phone manufacturers of the two rivalries At present, Coolpad 's patent operation mode is similar to that of the mobile phone giant Nokia, and both hope that their existing core patents will be patented and transferred to realize economic benefits.
The strength of the comparison is stronger and weaker
In order to get a more complete understanding of the patent strength of the two companies, Xue Fangfang, an intellectual property consultant for Beijing Hewlett-Packard Wisdom Technology Co., Ltd., conducted a patent search on a new incopat technology innovation platform and found that so far Yulong has submitted a total of 8,023 related patent applications, of which 7,396 were invention patent applications, 509 utility model patent applications and 118 design patent applications, of which 1,571 were granted patents for invention patents At the same time, Yulong filed patents overseas 1,266 applications were filed, of which 990 were filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and 269 were filed in the United States, Europe, India and other countries and regions.
Xuefang Fang further conducted a search and analysis on the patent situation of Xiaomi and its sued companies. Up to now, the total number of patent applications filed by Xiaomi in the country totaled 12.29 million, of which 103.32 were for invention patents and 1007 for utility model patents, 690 design patent applications were granted, of which 1,174 invention patent applications were granted, while 6,191 patent applications were submitted overseas by Xiaomi, of which 1,085 were filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) , The United States, India and other countries and regions to submit patent applications 2919. In addition, so far, Xiaomi's respondent companies Xiaomi Telecommunications Technology Co., Ltd. and millet limited liability companies, respectively, in the domestic patent applications filed 5222 and 6151, and successively In the United States, Europe, India and other countries and regions to carry out patent layout.
Judging from the comparison between the two, although Kuwait has more patents, but millet's patent reserves should not be underestimated .Although the number of invention patents, millet slightly less than Cool, but millet in the country's total number of patent applications Volume and overseas patent layout was significantly higher than Cool.In addition, after the search for the three patents involved in the case is not difficult to find, Coulee identified three patents infringement millet are involved in the field of mobile communication terminals, and millet in the mobile terminal related fields A total of about 1900 filed patent applications, I believe millet should have a certain strength to deal with the patent litigation, but the final result, yet to be heard by the court.
The three patents involved in the field of mobile communications terminal, in fact, is what we often say graphical user interface (GUI) technology, these three patents should be carefully selected by Cool, is the core technology in the field of mobile communications.Industry believes that Cool Select the millet's three companies litigation is targeted, the three companies brought together most of the assets and technology millet, patent search can be seen from the case of its technical strength.
Develop strategies to seize opportunities
'Through the above analysis, we can see that Cool has a certain accumulation in the core technology of mobile phones, but if it wants to use the core patents for charging, in the short term is more difficult.If the cool to win the lawsuit, according to the current domestic patent infringement Penalties, the amount of compensation will not be too high, even if both parties reached a patent license agreement, will also go through a longer process. 'Wang Yanhui said that from the millet point of view, in the face of such patent litigation, perhaps its Will be prepared with both hands: First, a positive response, insist on litigation in the end with each other to find the other side of the relevant technology loopholes, and patents related patents filed invalid claims; Second, Xiaomi can conduct a comprehensive assessment of the patent involved, if found that the lawsuit may Affect its IPO process, may be active and cool to reach a settlement.
With the increasing competition in the mobile phone market, the number of patent litigation in this field will also increase in the future. "The replacement of related technologies in the field of mobile phones is extremely rapid. Enterprises must not only identify the strategies for market development, but also continue to increase their market share Areas of technology research and development, otherwise it is easy to be eliminated. "Unnamed experts said the above, China's mobile phone manufacturers want to achieve rapid development, bypassing unnecessary patent litigation, first of all need to strengthen technology research and development, is committed to polish a better Mobile phone products. Mobile phone products not only meet the actual needs of consumers, but also innovative, rather than copying the concept of other business products.Secondly, although the current smart phone market has been saturated, but soon after the tide with the replacement The arrival of related companies will usher in a new round of opportunities for development.Therefore, China's mobile phone manufacturers should continue to improve their own patent reserves, increase investment in technology research and development, in order to enhance the enterprise's voice .In addition, cultivate a high-quality intellectual property Team, but also the relevant mobile phone companies in the future participation in domestic and international patent litigation, an important condition to win market competition.