The review decision of the Patent Re-examination Board once again raised public concerns about a batch of claims involving hundreds of millions of yuan in 2017. In 2017, it was believed that Samsung, Qingdao Hisense Electric Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hisense), Skyworth Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Skyworth Corporation) constitutes infringement of its own patents related to 'audio decoding' technology, and Hirose Company sued several of the above companies in multiple courts, claiming several million yuan. The amount claimed for a series of cases is huge and it is The first batch of domestic lawsuits involving 'audio decoding' technical standard necessary patents caused a great sensation at the time. In the course of the lawsuit, Samsung filed a patent requisition request for patent invalidation on one of the patents.
According to the industry analysts, as a strategic core resource of a company, patents are not only a reflection of corporate technological innovation achievements, but also a way for companies to seek commercial value. The reason why Guangsheng Company initiated an infringement lawsuit may be to strive for a more reasonable and more favorable The patent licensing fees. Therefore, in the case of such necessary standard patent disputes, China's TV manufacturers should, depending on the situation, either actively respond to the lawsuit, or take the initiative to seek cooperation with the right holder. However, more importantly, TV manufacturers We must adhere to technological innovation, have an advantage in technology, and actively participate in the formulation of industry standards to gain more say.
Standard-essential patents cause disputes
According to public information, DRA is a digital audio coding technology developed by Guanghan Company. The patent involved is a standard essential patent of the current national standard “Technical Specification for Multichannel Digital Audio Codecs” (referred to as DRA audio standard). 2007 On August 17, Guangsheng Company submitted the patent application for the case to the State Intellectual Property Office and was authorized on May 20, 2009 (patent number: ZL200710141661.6).
Since then, Guangsheng Company has discovered that a number of companies, such as Skyworth and Gome Electrical Appliance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Gome), produced and sold multiple models of television products that were suspected of falling into the patent involved and another part of the product they held. The scope of claims of the invention patent (Patent No.: ZL200810003464.2) of the audio decoding and decoding system. In July 2017, Guangsheng Company produced and sold the products of Skyworth, Shenzhen Skyworth-RGB Electronics Co., Ltd., Gome. The imported more than 100 television products infringed their patent rights on the grounds that the three companies were sued to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court and asked the court to order the three defendants to immediately stop the infringement and compensate economic losses totaling RMB 192.2 million.
Subsequently, Guangsheng Company sued Qingdao Hisense Electric Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hisense Corporation), Hisense Group Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Suning Yunshang Sales Co., Ltd. to the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Government of Guangdong Province on the ground that the above two patent rights were infringed. The People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the Shenzhen Intermediate Court); Subsequently, Guangsheng Company infringed on the above two patents and another patent entitled 'Method and Apparatus for Decoding Audio Signals'. (Suzhou) Electronics Co., Ltd. sued to the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court.
After being filed for infringement litigation, Samsung counterattacked. On August 7, 2017, Samsung filed a patent invalidation request against the Patent Reexamination Board for the patent involved. On February 28, 2018, the Patent Reexamination Board reviewed the patent involved. Decided that all patents involved in the case were invalid.
It is worth mentioning that Skyworth’s patent for the “Audio Decoding and Decoding System”, another standard necessary patent held by Guang Sheng Company, also filed a patent invalidation request with the Patent Reexamination Board. The case will be heard in the near future. .
What effect does it have to observe
The company’s official website shows that its goal is to become the first Chinese company to rely on intellectual property operations to achieve profitability. In the opinion of an insider who is engaged in research related to audio decoding, he holds the core patents and trademarks of the DRA standard. People and external licensees, and the licensing of television terminals with manufacturers is a way to achieve the above goals.
“Before, Skyworth and Hisense were the partners of Guangsheng Company. At this time, the two parties gave up their cooperation and may have expired due to the original cooperation. However, the two parties did not reach a consensus on the new licensing agreement. For example, There may be disagreements between the two parties on patent licensing fees. ' In the case of initiating a number of motives involving DRA standards necessary patent infringement litigation, Li Junhui, a special researcher at China University of Political Science and Law Intellectual Property Research Center, has analyzed.
'For Guangyu Company, an important patent right was declared invalid, not only means that Guangsheng Company will be in a passive position in the patent infringement lawsuit with Skyworth, Samsung and Hisense, and As for companies that have reached a patent license for Guangsheng Company, the patent licensing fee may also show new variables. 'Li Junhui analyzed that according to the relevant provisions of the Chinese Patent Law, if the patent right is declared invalid, the court may invalidate the patent right before it is declared invalid. The determination of patent infringement made and executed, the mediation statement, the decision to deal with patent infringement disputes that have been performed or enforced, and the patent implementation license contract and patent assignment contract that have been performed, have no retrospective effect. However, the patentee’s Any damages caused to others by malicious people shall be compensated.
Strengthen technological innovation to avoid disputes
In fact, in recent years, infringement disputes involving standard essential patents are not uncommon. On May 25, 2016, Huawei Company sued the Shenzhen Intermediate Court for infringement of its 4G standard patent by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The defendant was ordered to immediately stop the infringement. On January 11, 2018, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court made a first-instance ruling on the case and determined that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in South Korea infringed on Huawei’s patent rights. At the same time, the court stated that after stopping the infringement judgment, The two parties can still implement the license negotiation. In July 2015, Xi'an Xidian Jietong Wireless Network Communication Co., Ltd. infringed a standard-essential patent in the WAPI field by Sony Mobile Communications Products (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Sony Corporation). The right to sue Sony Corp. to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, claiming more than RMB 33.53 million. In March 2017, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court made a first-instance ruling on the case and found that the company was infringing and ordered the company to compensate the plaintiff for RMB 9.1 million. yuan.
As is known to all, companies involved in infringements of standard essential patents are usually more involved, the trial period is longer, the claims are often huge and the technical fields involved are complex, and the judgment results will have a very big impact on the relevant companies. Therefore, In this type of dispute, both the defendant and the defendant could not be sloppy. Then, in the face of such disputes, how should China's TV companies solve the 'difficulties'?
In the eyes of the above-mentioned persons in the industry, reaching a patent license agreement that maximizes the interests of both parties is the key direction that the rights holder and the authorized party should jointly consider. When the TV manufacturer negotiates with the right holder to determine the standard and necessary patent license fees, it can use its own technology. Development and target market expansion needs to selectively accept patent holders' non-standard essential patent licenses, even standard essential patents and non-standard essential patent packaging licenses. Sometimes the overall cost of the 'package agreement' may not be too high.
In addition, in Li Junhui's view, with the upgrading of technology, audio decoding standards are not static. To avoid such disputes, TV manufacturers should enhance their independent innovation capabilities and increase investment in R&D of core technologies. On the other hand, We must also constantly participate in the innovation of audio decoding standards and the development of standards in the industry.