In February 2008, an American old woman filed an application with the US International Trade Commission on the grounds of patent infringement, requesting 337 investigations on 34 companies including Hitachi, Samsung and Toshiba, including Guangzhou Hongli Optoelectronics, Shenzhen Zhoulei, etc. 6 Chinese companies.
On November 11, 2009, Japanese LED giant Nichia announced that it has filed patent infringement lawsuits against mainland China, Hong Kong and Canadian manufacturers in the United States. The companies that were brought to court by Nichia include Shenzhen Weiwei Industrial Co., Ltd., Weiwei Technology (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., and Weiwei North America. Nichia claims that the three defendants infringed three patents related to white LEDs in Japan, including USpatentno.5998925, 7026756 and 7531960, and a patent related to LED chips (USpatentno.6870191).
In recent years, with the development of China's LED lighting industry, semiconductor patent disputes have continued, and the trend of disputes has developed to the mainland of China and is increasing. In this context, how can the LED lighting industry promoted by the Ministry of Science and Technology “Ten Cities and Ten Thousands†be able to develop healthily and steadily, how to better avoid patent risks and apply prevention strategies. The journalist interviewed Mao Jinsheng, director of the Intellectual Property Development Research Center of the State Intellectual Property Office.
"Ten Cities and Ten Thousand References": What is the current status of LED lighting technology patents at home and abroad?
Mao Jinsheng: LED is the most promising green lighting source in the 21st century. At present, the development of the international semiconductor lighting industry shows that the global industrial pattern is geographically significant; international multinational companies use technological advantages to occupy high value-added products; industrial investment continues to increase, and cooperation among multinational companies is strengthened; and application fields are expanding. The semiconductor lighting industry in Taiwan has developed earlier and faster. It is one of the key areas of the international semiconductor lighting industry. In recent years, with the decline of industrial development on the island, the production capacity has gradually shifted to the mainland. At present, the development stage of the mainland is similar to that of Taiwan in 2000. The industry is optimistic, many investments have entered, and production capacity has begun to expand.
Original patents are mainly concentrated in Japan, the United States, South Korea, China, Germany, Taiwan and other countries or regions. The number of Japanese patents is the highest, but the quality of patents in the US and Germany is higher. Although the mainland accounts for 5%, it includes a large number of Taiwan-funded enterprises. Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Germany, as strong countries or regions with strong semiconductor lighting, attach great importance to singing in mainland China. The proportion of applications in China is 25%, 24%, 7%, 5%, and 4% respectively.
The regional distribution of China's LED industry is concentrated, and seven regional industrial clusters have been formed, namely Shanghai, Nanchang, Xiamen, Dalian, Shenzhen, Yangzhou and Shijiazhuang. The top six applicants in China are Shenzhen, Beijing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Xiamen, which have collected more than 75% of the country's applications. Generally speaking, Taiwan enterprises and Taiwan-funded enterprises have obvious advantages in the field of semiconductor lighting in China. From an international perspective, Japanese companies are generally at the leading level of technology. Packaging is the main research and development and application field in China. The number of patent applications accounts for 38% of the total. Others are applied technology, epitaxial technology, chip technology, white light technology and substrate technology. The related patents mainly involve LED preparation methods and equipment. From an international perspective, related patents mainly cover the technical issues of light-emitting diode device structure, package structure, preparation method, cathode ray tube, gallium arsenide-based silicon substrate.
"Ten Cities and Ten Thousand References": Would you please briefly introduce the status of patents in the field of LED chip technology in China?
Mao Jinsheng: For the patent application of chip technology, before 1998, the application volume has been relatively stable and fluctuating. Since 1999, the application volume has gradually increased, which is the initial period of chip technology. After 2002, the number of patent applications increased rapidly. During this period, in order to improve the light-emitting efficiency of the chip and make it widely applicable to general lighting, many companies have increased their research on chip technology, so a large number of core patents have emerged. From the perspective of technical branch composition, the main applicants' research on the field of LED chips mainly focuses on electrodes, microstructures and chip reflection layer technology. Among them, the design and improvement of electrodes are the chip technologies most concerned by each application. From the perspective of technology branches, the patent applications in the field of LED chip technology in China include technical aspects of various aspects; the main technologies are electrodes, microstructures, reflective layers, substrate peel bonding, chip shape, and dicing technology. In the field of LED chip technology, the fabrication and design of electrodes and microstructure are the main research directions, followed by the reflective layer and substrate peel bonding technology. These two technologies are also the research hotspots in recent years.
Domestic chip technology is gradually developing, but the technical strength of domestic applicants is relatively weak. The number of patent applications related to semiconductor lighting LED chips applied in China has been steadily increasing. It has increased significantly in 2003 and is in a stage of relatively mature development. . Among the applicant countries and regions applying for foreign countries in China, the countries and regions with large applications are mainly Japan, the United States, Europe, China, South Korea, Germany and Taiwan. The development of technology branches in the field of chip technology by domestic applicants is more comprehensive, but there is a large patent risk.
"Ten Cities and Ten Thousand References": What are the aspects of the patent risk status of China's LED lighting technology?
Mao Jinsheng: The core patents are mainly concentrated in the hands of major companies such as Nichia Chemical (Japan), Osram (Germany), Kerry (USA), General Electric (USA), Toyota Synthetic (Japan) and Samsung (Korea). The scope of protection of peripheral patents falls within the scope of foreign patent protection, and its protection scope falls within the scope of foreign patent protection. Since more than half of the core patents are authorized in China, domestic enterprises have great patent risks.
In China, only a few companies have bypassed or broken through the containment of domestic core patents in a certain technical detail. For example, Beijing R&D rare earth has individual patents on phosphors that bypass the core patents through changes in technical characteristics; Technically, it has independent intellectual property rights, but there are still large risks in other technology branches.
"Ten Cities and Ten Thousands Reference": How do Chinese LED lighting companies do their defense strategies, avoid unnecessary risks, and properly handle the intellectual property disputes that have already occurred?
Mao Jinsheng: From six aspects, we must first accelerate the cultivation of the independent innovation system of China's LED lighting industry. Guide the LED industry from the national level, give support to the underlying industries and research institutions, and encourage them to research and develop in the fields of new materials and processes such as GaN-based LEDs, single-chip white light, and high-efficiency white phosphors on silicon substrates. Innovation. Support and clarify the company's dominant position in the LED industry. Relevant departments should promote the rational patent layout of China in the LED field;
Secondly, strengthen the cooperation between industry, universities and research institutes. In the field of LED, some domestic research institutions, such as the Institute of Semiconductors, Institute of Physics, Zhejiang University, Tsinghua University, etc., have certain research and development capabilities, and some enterprises have strong processing and manufacturing capabilities. Enterprises should strengthen cooperation with research institutes, promote the transfer of innovation results of scientific research institutions to enterprises, effectively avoid intellectual property risks, and promote the upgrading of China's LED lighting industry;
Encourage enterprises to apply for more peripheral patents to effectively protect and utilize domestic patented technologies. Chinese enterprises should strengthen imitation and innovation on the basis of digesting and absorbing foreign advanced technology, take the road of technological growth of Japanese and Korean companies, improve their technical effects by improving the core patents of competitors, and apply for improved patents. An effective way of patenting;
Again, we must pay attention to standard research and systems. Further accelerate the research and development of China's LED lighting products performance, testing, energy efficiency and other standards and related specifications, establish and improve product testing platform. Carry out energy-saving certification for LED lighting products, appropriately raise the threshold for foreign products to enter the domestic market, exchange foreign core patent technologies with standard specifications, and reduce patent fees;
At the same time, domestic enterprises should be encouraged to purchase foreign patents. In view of the fact that most of the core patents in the LED field are in the hands of foreign companies, government departments should encourage enterprises to seize the opportunity to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with foreign companies and enterprises in Taiwan. Purchase core patents from competitors. At present, it is a favorable period for purchasing foreign patents. On the one hand, China's LED enterprises have a small scale of development and have not attracted the attention of foreign companies. On the other hand, they can use the financial crisis to reduce the purchase price of patents.
Finally, establish an industry early warning mechanism for intellectual property rights. Establish an early warning and emergency response mechanism for intellectual property in the LED lighting industry in China, and give full play to the role of industry associations. Study and analyze relevant patent information in this field, issue early warning information, and formulate and implement response plans. It will help governments, enterprises and research institutions to keep abreast of the intellectual property competition situation, prepare in advance to deal with the upcoming competitive threats, and properly handle the intellectual property disputes that have already occurred.
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