Gree, Midea, Oaks, the three air-conditioning giants' interludes are still continuing. Nail Technology noticed that the United States recently launched a lawsuit against Gree’s 'Advertising Campaign', thinking that its use of the US’s previous slogan 'had no feeling of coolness' The “feeling of wind” constituted unfair competition, and Gree and Oakes’ patent disputes continued to unfold. So, why are the lawsuits between air-conditioning head enterprises frequently occurring?
Beautiful Gree Oaks Melee
Because of the slogan 'There is no feeling of coolness', the United States brought Gree to court.
Midea’s company claims that since 2015, it has spent huge sums of money through television, newspapers, radio and other media publicly and vigorously publicizing the beautiful company’s comfortable air-conditioning system with “cool and windless” technology, and making it feel cool. Wind sense' is an unregistered trademark in the form of advertising, which plays a role in identifying different from other air conditioning brand logos. Gree knows that its air conditioner products do not have the "cool feeling and no sense of wind" technology and function, but use the company's enjoyment Very high-profile slogans advertise their products and gain a competitive advantage that should not have been attributed to them.
In other words, Midea believes that Gree is compelling to compel unfair competition.
Nail Technology noticed that lawsuits between air-conditioning giants have frequently occurred in recent years. Prior to this lawsuit, on April 24, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court made a verdict on Gree v. Oaks air-conditioning patent infringement case: Ox infringed Gree's air-conditioning technology. Utility model patents require the immediate suspension of sale of infringing eight models of air-conditioning products and compensation for Gree’s economic loss of 40 million yuan.
In fact, the patent wars in the current air-conditioning market are not limited to the Gree War Oaks. It can be said that there are a large number of pending patent litigation disputes between Gree, Midea, and Oaks. The air-conditioning patents launched by Gree and the United States last year. The lawsuit that you came to me has made a lot of noises.
Three causes of frequent lawsuits
Different from the color TV industry, there are frequent lawsuits between air-conditioning head companies. What are the reasons for this? According to the analysis of nail technology, there are three main reasons:
First, technology giants are building their own patent moats..
When Nail Technology visited the head and household appliance companies, they discovered that they all had a dedicated patent strategy team to study the industry's patent layout and offensive and defensive measures.
In fact, not only air-conditioning companies, but globally, Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Qualcomm and other tech giants are also building their own patent matrices, blocking competitors as much as possible, and collecting patent licensing fees. For example, Qualcomm's mobile phone companies also have to pay Qualcom's patent licensing fees of about 5% of the total machine price.
Gree, Midea, Oaks, these head air-conditioning companies, whether it is advertising creative or original technology, can not easily let other companies learn and copy.
Second, the market's peak season beat competitors' tactical actions.
Nowadays, air conditioners have entered the peak season of sales. At this time, through patent protection and litigation, they can effectively crack down on rivals and damage the other party's brand reputation, so as to increase sales of one's own products and suppress sales of the other.
Through observation, it is not difficult to find that the more the market season, the higher the frequency of such lawsuits and related information in early summer.
Third, the necessary measures to reshape the pattern.
On the market, Gree is still the largest air-conditioner market share, with a share of around 40%. However, Gree can't say that you can sit back and relax. Beautiful, Oaks has frequently launched a strong impact in recent years.
Nail Technology noted that the financial report showed that in 2017, Gree Electric Appliances' air-conditioning product business revenue was 123.41 billion yuan, accounting for 83.2%; in 2017, Midea's main business sector, HVAC revenue was 95.35 billion yuan, accounting for 43%. Only the air-conditioning business, the difference between the United States and Gree is not significant.
In addition, Oaks can be described as a dark horse in recent years, and the growth rate is extremely fast. Especially in the online market, Oaks even suppressed Gree and Midea and others. In the past 618, Oaks ranked first in the online market sales. .
The pattern of 'one super and many strong' is beautiful in the United States, under the impact of Oaks. In this context, nail technology analysis believes that whether it is to defend the square Gree or attack Fangmei, Oaks, there are enough 4. Power to strike, suppress opponents, patent wars, litigation warfare is part of the overall strategy of market competition.
According to Ding Shaohui, the founder of Naru Technology, the air-conditioning industry is setting off a new round of technological changes. It is extremely realistic for mainstream brands to build their own competitive barriers. However, any radical marketing can not be done. To change the market trend, it is impossible to truly win the competitive advantage. It is the key to maintain the competitiveness of the market by doing a good job of core competence building on the basis of technology.