1. Following the prosecution of Facebook, Blackberry once again accused Snap of violating its patented communications technology.
Set micro-message, BlackBerry is planning to sue social upstart Snap in its Snapchat application using the company's patent-pending communication technology.
In response, the Snap representative declined to comment.
BlackBerry CEO Cheng Shouzong has been trying to find an additional source of income recently because investors are concerned about the growth rate of the company’s core business, security software. This prompted BlackBerry to look at its own wireless technology and messaging and other patents. More opportunities for licensing transactions, and even litigation.
It is worth mentioning that just last month, BlackBerry just filed a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging that the latter's WhatsApp and Instagram applications infringed its own patents.
BlackBerry claims that Facebook's massive popular information applications use the technology invented by Blackberry. The company mentioned that the patents that were infringed include: information encryption, display of battery and chat messages, and the combination of mobile chat tools and games.
In March, Blackberry alleged that Facebook's applications copied the existing message display. This display method was once used by BlackBerry's communications services to dominate the world. And, BlackBerry has been successful from Cisco, the mobile phone manufacturer BLU. Products and communications technology company Avaya Holdings Corp receive reconciliation fees.
It is reported that BlackBerry sued Snap for infringing on six patents issued by the company in 2012 and 2014. Two of the patents also appeared in the BlackBerry patents mentioned in the BlackBerry's Prosecution of Facebook on March 6.
The lawsuit against patent infringement is one of the strategies of BlackBerry CEO John Chen for making money for the company.
The BlackBerry was once a well-known mobile phone brand favored by business people. It is known for its security and full keyboard. However, after the iPhone was born, the BlackBerry was gradually eroded by the smart phone. In December 2016, BlackBerry will design, manufacture and sell the BlackBerry. The rights of branded mobile phones were sold to TCL, a Chinese multinational company, and the mobile phone hardware business was stripped. Today's BlackBerry business mainly includes information security products for enterprise software and mobile devices.
Since then, BlackBerry has shifted its focus to network security software and invested in the operating system of self-driving cars.
Blackberry is trying to persuade other companies to pay royalties to use more than 40,000 global patents in such areas as operating systems, network infrastructure, audio, communications, automotive subsystems, network security and wireless communications.
Blackberry is also selling cybersecurity software for self-driving cars. The company sued Nokia in February 2017 and accused it of violating patents related to 3G and 4G wireless communication technologies. The federal court in Delaware is still trying the case.
Last year, Qualcomm agreed to pay BlackBerry $940 million (about $5.9 billion) to resolve the issue of arbitration of royalties. In October 2017, BlackBerry announced that it had reached an agreement with Blu Products, a Florida-based manufacturer of low-cost mobile devices. Confidentiality agreement.
2. How does Xiaomi break the patent barrier?
'His numbers have no way to confirm. He is not a listed company. He can't say anything.' On March 7th this year, Dong Mingzhu, the deputy of the National People's Congress, responded to the media by responding to the bet with Lei Jun.
In 2013, Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun launched a challenge at CCTV to CEO Dong Mingzhu of Gree Electric, stating that if Xiaomi’s turnover cannot exceed Gree within 5 years, it will lose to Dong Mingzhu’s one dollar. Dong Mingzhu responds with arrogance and responds, 'One dollar will not be mentioned again. , To bet gambling on 10 billion. ' Gree's strong self-confidence stems from the rapid development of corporate innovation R & D capabilities, and behind this is its determination to lay out intellectual property protection for many years.
Although Lei Jun can easily talk about the future on many occasions, with the advancement of industrial upgrading and internationalization, Xiaomi is faced with more than the problem of how “the turnover exceeds Gree in five years”. The pressure from patent disputes and intellectual property protection is becoming increasingly serious. One side is investing a lot of money to buy patents, and the other side is caught in patent litigation. For Xiaomi, how to speed up the layout of intellectual property rights protection and enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises is very important.
Patent disputes:
Millet's 'Adult Ceremony'
Right now, more and more Chinese companies are starting to increase their investment in intellectual property, but there are still companies that are still suing laws because of intellectual property rights. Is the cost of illegality more affordable than sales revenue?
In 2015, Xiaomi encountered the problem of 'unicorn' growth. In 2015, Xiaomi’s mobile revenue was 78 billion yuan, which was only 5% higher than the 74.3 billion yuan in 2014.
In fact, Xiaomi is also aware of the crisis. It is reported that Xiaomi has used a large amount of funds for the purchase of patents. It was reported by the media that in 2016, Xiaomi received 1500 patents from Microsoft. Before that, Xiaomi had acquired a lot of data from Datang Telecom and Intel. patent.
For Huawei, ZTE once challenged Xiaomi’s patents. Dong Mingzhu even accused publics of violating other people's patents as a “thief” behavior. In India, Xiaomi also faced patent issues. At the end of 2014, Xiaomi’s mobile phone infringed on Ericsson’s patents. The court banned sales.
One side is investing a lot of money to buy patents, and the other side is constantly falling into patent litigation. This phenomenon has to be confided. Perhaps it can be seen from Huawei’s early patent cases. According to media reports, Huawei’s early patent problems Once Cisco, Motorola, etc., continued to go to court, even now Huawei has to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in patent licensing fees a year, but this is a multi-billion-dollar annual sales revenue. This is a good deal for Huawei. . '
As for the controversy over Xiaomi’s patent rights, Lei Jun said, “The patent warfare is almost part of the fight for the championship of the mobile phone industry. Look at how many times Apple was sued, how much Samsung has been sued, and how much Apple and Samsung are fighting each other. The patent is Smartphone industry rules of the game. 'He believes that the patent dispute is Xiaomi's 'adult ceremony', the company has grown to a certain stage, and all international giants will accept this kind of competition means in this way.
Ensure leadership:
Deep plowing intellectual property
Although Xiaomi has invested a lot of money to purchase patents, for a company that has been established for less than eight years, the amount of accumulated patents is still far from enough. In 2016, Xiaomi’s performance turned awry. In this year, the top ten ranking in the number of invention patents granted. At last, Xiaomi was not listed.
Although in October 2017, sales revenue of over RMB 100 billion was achieved ahead of schedule, in 2017, the top ten list of invention patents granted, Xiaomi was still absent.
Do these signs indicate that Xiaomi’s own research capabilities and property rights layout cannot fully support its multiple investment areas involving mobile phones?
In the past two years, Xiaomi also accelerated the pace of patent applications. At last year's Xiaomi 5X/MIUI 9 conference, Lei Jun mentioned that at the time Xiaomi had obtained 4,806 patents. This year, Xiaomi has 6324 patents, of which 53% Outside China, from July 2017 to now, Xiaomi added 1,518 new patents.
When Lei Jun 'runs around' for a patent, 'Sister Dong' seems to be calm.
At the end of 2017, Dong Mingzhu disclosed at the annual meeting of Chinese business leaders that 'Gree's turnover has increased by 40 billion yuan this year'. Gree’s turnover in 2017 exceeded 140 billion yuan.
All this is closely related to Gree's deep cultivation of intellectual property protection. On January 19, 2016, the State Intellectual Property Office announced the ranking of China's invention patents in 2017. Gree Electric Appliances relied on 3,299 invention patent applications and 871 patents for inventions. The amount of authorization ranks seventh in the national list.
As early as 2015, Gree also gained a lot in the field of invention patents. Its total number of invention patent applications ranked the ninth in the country. In 2016, it again hit the list, ranking up two positions.
Behind Gree's dazzling data is not only the rapid improvement of corporate innovation and R&D capabilities, but also the result of its intellectual property protection.
'To allow more Chinese companies to see the importance of their own innovation capabilities. The degree of emphasis on intellectual property, related to the leading position in the field, will also make the company's core competitiveness improved.' Economist Guo Zhiyong said.
How to break:
Perfecting laws and regulations
In addition to Xiaomi Company, China still has a large number of technology companies with insufficient patent reserves or weak awareness of patent issues. How to improve the prevention of patent disputes by strengthening the legal system is a problem that needs to be addressed and resolved. .
Shanghai Jiaotong University Chair Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, and Director of the Academy of Intellectual Property and Competition Law Kong Xiangjun believes that in the legal aspect, China’s protection of intellectual property rights in previous years has attached importance to legal amendments and the construction of legal systems, but 'tuition is not enough to be self-reliant' A good legal system must be implemented by an effective organizational system to achieve the desired effect.
He introduced that the realization of specialized trials in intellectual property cases, centralized jurisdiction, procedural intensification, and personnel specialization can fundamentally solve institutional problems that restrict scientific and technological innovation, such as the inconsistent standards of intellectual property rights referees and the complexity of litigation procedures.
'Further perfecting a specialized judicial system that conforms to the law of the protection of intellectual property rights can effectively meet the judicial needs of scientific and technological innovations for specialized trials of intellectual property.' Kong Xiangjun pointed out that in the forthcoming institutional reforms, the system for the enforcement of intellectual property rights will also be obtained. Continue to improve. China Enterprise News
3. Apple's patent application for 'energy-absorbing components' Is this a car?
A few years ago, Apple's news about developing its own-brand car was buzzing, but in the end, Apple gave up the plan and turned to research on the CarPlay system and autopilot technology. But they apparently did not give up the dream of building a car, one of the exposures today. The patent shows that Apple has been studying the car's 'energy absorption components'!
When a car hits another vehicle or other object, the frame of the vehicle may be subjected to a force that causes the car body to be severely deformed. Therefore, in the past, car companies often strengthened their strength at certain parts to prevent deformation, such as the use of parts around the cockpit. More fixtures and thicker steel. This can keep the deformed engine compartment, trunk and other parts out of the car during impact.
Whereas the engine room and other places are usually designed to be easily deformed, compressed structures are used to absorb the impact energy, here is the so-called 'front beam'. The front beam can absorb the energy transmitted from the front of the vehicle, usually located in the driving In front of the cabin, and the front beam will extend out of beams, these beams will be compressed and even broken in the event of an impact. So if you see a car accident, the front is compressed, but the cockpit is not significantly deformed. , In fact, this is a safe car.
This patent of Apple is designed for the front beam. Based on the previous design of the front beam, it provides a structural member that extends in the other direction. It can make the front beam absorb impact force in different directions when it deforms, improving vehicle safety. The apple also designed a groove on this structural member so that the crucible could be accommodated in this groove after being compressed and would not enter the cab.
Of course, the number of patents filed by Apple is unclear, and the amount of patents used is also very small. We will never know if this technology will be put into use. However, since Apple has applied for a patent on automobile-related structures, it proves that they are indeed Try to make a car, Apple Car, maybe you still want to see it!
4. Facebook's new patent on Oculus VR gloves: Can simulate touch in the VR world
As early as 2016, Oculus, a Facebook company, applied for two patents for virtual reality (VR) gloves. Now two patents are being exposed online.
Both of these patents relate to tactile feedback VR gloves. According to the description, tactile feedback gloves embed so-called 'Tendons' (similar to the muscles of human muscles) into the weighting device to simulate touch in the VR world. Tendons are on the user's back At the top of the line, when you touch an object, it generates resistance, which means that when you complete a variety of tasks, such as pressing a button and picking up something, it feels more real.
However, from the point of view of documentation, it seems that there are only two Tendons on the glove, which means that each finger may not support touch feedback. This design may be considered because we use the thumb and index finger more often. Sina Technology
5. Experts: Prosecuting the United States to the WTO is like going to court to sue the thief. Absolutely!
On April 3, the US trade representative announced the 301 investigation tax proposal for China, and publicly solicited opinions within 60 days. According to foreign media reports, the tax product proposal list will involve China’s 50 billion US dollars export, and the proposed tax rate is 25 %. After the list was issued in the United States, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) both responded immediately. The Global Times reporter noticed that these statements have In this way, 'China will immediately refer the relevant US practices to the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism'. Under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, can China win the victory? What role can China play against the 'criticism' of US trade? Experts interviewed by Global Times reporters said that it is 'unquestionable' that China can win this lawsuit. The WTO ruling will not only clarify the principle of 'yes and no', but more importantly, Containing the United States to introduce further unilateral sanctions.
'According to the rules of the WTO, China has no doubt that it will win.' He Weiwen, executive director of the China WTO Research Association, said in an interview with a Global Times reporter on the 4th that 'U.S. unilateral sanctions against China through domestic laws are a violation of the WTO. The rules, if we just discuss with the United States on the issue of whether 50 billion taxation goods are too much is reasonable and so on, it is equivalent to acquiesce the unilateral approach of the United States is legal. Therefore, several speakers first made it clear: Recourse to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. This is a matter of the “big right from wrong” concerning the multilateral rules of international trade. It is our unwavering need to persist.'
He Weiwen stated that Article 23 of the WTO’s “Dispute Settlement Understanding” places special emphasis on strengthening the multilateral system. No member shall unilaterally identify or decide that a measure by another member is in violation of the rules of the WTO, nor shall he be unilaterally Their interests have been damaged, lost or the realization of the WTO goal has been hindered, and then decided to trade retaliation against the other members. 'In view of such a clear legal requirement, our prosecution of the United States in the WTO is like a street thief stealing an absolute, absolutely Will win. '
What role can WTO judges and rulings play? He Weiwen gave an example to reporters: 'In the 1980s, the United States frequently initiated 301 investigations on multiple trading partners including Japan, the European Union, Canada, and Brazil. These partners generally had to choose to endure. In 1998, the European Union was finally intolerable, sued the United States to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, and demanded ruling on the legality of '301'. In January 2000, the WTO’s dispute settlement body passed The Panel of Experts report to the United States on Section 301. As the case received too much international attention, the United States had to make a 'clear, formal, unconditional' commitment under pressure: The implementation of '301' will fully comply with the WTO. The rules can be based on '301' to initiate an investigation, but it is not possible to take unilateral action based on the findings of the investigation. Since then, the United States has also stopped using the '301'. This old case 20 years ago should also be able to give today's We have a lot of inspiration.
As for the effectiveness and deterrence of the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism, Liu Jianwei, partner of Beijing Zhonglun Jintong Law Firm, told Global Times that the trial of the WTO case will take some time, and the result may take a year to come. If the case is complicated It may be even slower. 'In the meantime, China’s products have been limited. This is a question that requires us to be mentally prepared in advance.' But on the other hand, the reality is that U.S. unilateral sanctions against China may be More than this one '301', Trump is likely to launch more 301 investigations in the future, and restrict other products outside the list for other reasons. Recourse to multilateral mechanisms in the WTO is to warn the United States against further action. '. World Wide Web
6. Swashbucks officially announces return to console: No more counterfeiting
For the majority of the post-80s, the Cassidy learning machine/game console is undoubtedly a very lethal memory. The phrase “Little Overlord has a lot of fun” seems to be still echoing in the ear. Now, the bully game machine has officially returned!
Cassiopeia Cultural Development Co., Ltd. (formerly Zhongshan Xiaobawang Cultural Industry Co., Ltd.) issued a copyright statement on the 4th and stated that based on the development philosophy of 'Keeping pace with the times', it is determined to formally return to the game console market through technological innovation and development of excellence. , vigorously develop game consoles and game platforms that pay more attention to the player's experience, and fully respect intellectual property rights, especially game copyrights, as their own corporate strategy.
As we all know, the process of the rise of the bully is a bit gloomy. The unbridled imitation of the Nintendo FC's red and white machines is quite ridiculous.
This time, Cassidy solemnly stated that it highly values copyright protection and corporate image, and is planning to embark on the development of legitimate games, strategic planning of high-end game consoles, and the planned upgrade of the new bully brand host and related platforms. Stop and withdraw the game console production authorization for third-party manufacturers, and strive to ensure that sales of game consoles with unauthorized games are avoided in the future, so as to maintain the healthy development of the legitimate game industry and to protect the corporate responsibility of intellectual property rights.
In other words, the returning bullies will no longer follow the path of imitation and unauthorized games will not appear.
The Cassidy brand was born in 1987 and became a pioneer and leader in the learning machine and game industry in China during the initial period of reform and opening up. It was dubbed the 'Huangpu Military Academy of China's electronics industry'.
The bully first advertised on CCTV in 1991. In 1993 and 1994, they successively launched two generations of bully computer learning machines. They successively hired international martial arts superstar Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial arts star Ke Suiliang, and Zhengda Variety show host. Ai Hua, the famous movie and television star in Taiwan Jia Jingwen acted as spokesperson.
In 2009, over 3 million years ago, the 3rd generation computer learning machine A8, a collection of learning, sports, and entertainment that cost more than 30 million yuan, was launched. In 2012 and 2014, the 4th and 5th generation of somatosensory games were launched successively. Machine, and independently developed more than 100 Android game.
In March 2016, after 13 months of negotiation, the bully officially signed up for AMD's custom VR host chips. Following Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, it became the world’s fourth and China’s first high-end host chip company. In July of that year, Hong Kong Yihua Holdings invested heavily to launch the listing plan and proposed the strategic goal of creating a new over 50 billion VR industry in the future. Tencent Technology