Li-wan
Patent war has always been the automotive industry is not frequent.Directing such lawsuits, may be going through years or even longer tug of war, the car prices, choose to take the road to patent rights requires some courage Honda After a 12-year series of patent disputes with Shuanghuan Auto of Shijiazhuang, Giant Research Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as 'Honda') was sued again in the Chinese market for Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. (12.080, -0.24, -1.95% ), Provoked a new patent 'litigation war'.
According to media reports, Honda is the patentee of No. 200710008273.0 entitled "Rear Door Structure for Vehicles" and No. 200710161631.1, two invention patents (collectively referred to as the "Patent Involved Patents") entitled "Vehicle Decoration Installation Structure" Both of the above two invention patents are authorized to be announced in 2010. The patents of the preceding paragraph can be sought to be lightweight and rigid enough to reduce the manufacturing process and the manufacturing cost while the latter patents can flexibly change the roof decorations and vehicles Honda believes that the Great Wall Motor alleged infringement model is the vehicle number LGWEF4A56FF064336 Black Haval H6 upgrade version of this model rear door structure and decorative installation of infringement of its patent structure requires the Great Wall Motor and the Park Sales center should bear the cessation of infringement, compensation for damages and other civil liability.
How to determine whether the Great Wall Motor infringement, intellectual property experts, Shanghai Haihua Wing Tai law firm partner Guo Jie told the author, according to "the People's Republic of China Patent Law" the first paragraph of Article 59, invention or utility model patents The scope of protection is subject to the claims of the claims. The description and the drawings can be used to explain the contents of the claims. In the trial of patent infringement cases, the content of claims in the invention patent certificate of Haval H6 and Honda Compared with Honda Motor.Her analysis pointed out that in this case, the technical characteristics of Haval H6 cars and Honda patent claims involved in the record compared to the contents, if not all fall into the Honda invention patent claims The technical characteristics of the book, does not constitute 'the same infringement' or 'equivalent infringement', does not constitute a patent infringement.However, if the alleged infringement of the Hover H6 car completely fall into the technical characteristics of the Honda invention patent requirements, Great Wall Motor is still We can use the two legal defenses of 'existing technology' and 'right of the first owner' Infringement.
According to Guo Jie, the Honda and Great Wall Motor patent litigation will likely be a protracted war. The overall trial period of such cases is relatively long, three or four years are normal, and six or seven years are also likely. Some After retrial procedures, or even up to 10 years or more.Because, the verdict of the lawsuit may have a huge impact on a car manufacturer, once it is established as a patent infringement, not only to immediately stop infringement, resulting in a huge production and operation Adverse effects, but also may face huge damages, so such disputes usually go through the first instance, second instance trial two, some even go through the retrial procedure, and each stage of the trial there may be more unfamiliar with the judge Technical problems led to longer trial period.
Earlier, Honda sued Shuanghuan Automobile in 2003 for infringement of its series of design patents and claims for compensation, then the two sides kept the game until December 2015, the Supreme People's Court made a final decision to maintain the High People's Court of Hebei Province on patent infringement The same time, consider Honda to Shuanghuan car dealers improper warning letter sent to determine Honda Compensation Shuanghuan car economic losses 16 million yuan.
In recent years, patent litigation among automobile manufacturers in the well-known foreign car prices in the majority of domestic auto prices, in addition to 2003 Honda sue Shuanghuan cars, as well as general sued in 2004 Chery QQ shape mimic Spa May 2007 Fiat allegations of the Great Wall Wizard violations of panda shape, as well as Jaguar Land Rover JLR infringement in 2014. This is mainly due to previous Chinese car manufacturers do not understand the patent knowledge and patent value, patent applications smaller, and well-known foreign cars Enterprises hold the vast majority of automotive patents, so many lawsuits have been launched to gain or maintain market competitive advantage.
However, in recent years, the automobile manufacturing enterprises in our country pay more and more attention to the independent intellectual property rights, especially focusing on the significant value of the patent in the commercial competition.In 2016, the number of patents in the automotive industry in our country was 468,000, an increase of 10.6% over the same period of last year. The domestic automakers In some areas have mastered the core technology with independent intellectual property rights.
Patents are legal monopolies that are protected by law and are heavyweights that ensure that enterprises gain and maintain competitive advantages. The automobile manufacturing industry is one of the patent-intensive industries. The role of patents in the commercial competition of automobile enterprises is increasingly important. With the development of technological innovation in the world, as well as the industrial upgrading of China's manufacturing industry and the awareness of the independent intellectual property rights of Chinese car makers, the commercial competition in the automobile field will become more intense in the future and the patent wars will become more intense and frequent. The length of time can not stop this trend.
In the current auto market, there may still be some models of other models such as the cottage cottage phenomenon, but this is not a long-term plan, there is no change to encourage them.More and more independent car prices continue to rise, it is by virtue of Independent research and development and original stand out in the automobile market.