Recently, the internationally renowned mobile phone manufacturer Apple was found to have infringed on the design patent of Baili, a local mobile phone company in China, and was banned from selling in the Beijing market. This incident once again brought the ubiquitous patent dispute to the forefront of people's eyes as a hot event. In fact, infringement of design patents is common in China. Don’t you see that similar trademarks and homogeneous products are numerous in all walks of life? However, this is even more true in the LED industry. "Excellence in quality and persistence in innovation" was the early concept of Chip Optoelectronics. After more than ten years of accumulation, Chip Optoelectronics currently has more than 20 national invention patents and more than 40 appearance and utility model patents. Not long ago, a "plagiarism" infringement dispute also occurred in the field of LED display screens. Chip Optoelectronics, the party involved in the incident, complained that it spent huge sums of money to develop "outdoor dual-protection screens" and "outdoor hollow screens" products that were "cloned" shortly after they were launched on the market. More than one company infringed its patent rights.
Outdoor dual maintenance screen
It is understood that Zipu Optoelectronics' "outdoor dual maintenance" product has the characteristics of no screws between the module and the box, making it easier to disassemble and assemble; the surface is dark black, strong and flat, and the UV-resistant module kit ensures that the screen body is flat and not deformed; there is no maintenance channel, so it can cope with various installation environments; the modular design means low installation and maintenance costs, fast speed, and can be hot-swap with power. However, according to Wu Xiaogang, chairman of Chip Optoelectronics, the "dual maintenance" products that are "copied" and sold on the market are basically the same in appearance as Chip Optoelectronics' "outdoor dual maintenance" products, and the design of the disassembly functional structural parts is basically the same. However, inferior plastics are used to replace the metal materials carefully developed by Chip Optoelectronics. Not only the quality cannot be guaranteed, but also the performance and life of the product will be affected, and the interests of customers cannot be guaranteed.
Chip Optoelectronics Outdoor Hollow Screen
Although "plagiarism" incidents in the industry are nothing new, the reasons behind them are worth pondering. First of all, the threshold of the LED display industry is relatively low, and profits are relatively high in the early stages of development. Therefore, many grassroots entrepreneurial companies are rushing into it. These grassroots entrepreneurial companies have a weak foundation, lack core technologies, and are unwilling to invest money and energy in research and development. Reducing research and development and other links can greatly reduce the investment in manpower, material resources, and financial resources, thereby reducing costs and obtaining relatively high profits. These grassroots companies only want to sit back and enjoy the gains, which will inevitably lead to the spread of "plagiarism" in the industry. In addition, many invention patents in the LED industry are located abroad, and there are not many domestic patents. In the international market competition, many export-oriented LED companies have also fallen into technical barriers. Although China is a major manufacturer of LED displays, it only belongs to the lowest link in the entire value chain. In the domestic market, there are many competitors in the industry, and product differentiation has become increasingly impossible.
, the road to technological innovation is even more elusive. Faced with the funds and time required for technology research and development, more companies would rather choose to "borrow" and enjoy the R&D results of other companies and directly copy products to make direct profits. For a product like LED display that requires continuous innovation to meet market demand, without innovation, it is equivalent to falling into a stagnant water without vitality and vitality.
Chip Optoelectronics US "Outdoor Dual Maintenance" Patent
Secondly, in the LED display industry, many companies lack respect for patents and other companies and have no original thinking. This has led to the continuous emergence of similar products and trademarks in the industry, and their endless repetition, resulting in a relative surplus of low-end products in the market, disrupting the market order.
Finally, from a national level, the LED display industry does not have complete national industry standards, and the industry is left to its own devices, which even encourages "plagiarism" in the industry to a certain extent. Although the local government here has a series of local standards, the standards in different places are seriously uneven, which makes companies encounter obstacles in applying LED products in different regions. It also makes it difficult to distinguish the authenticity of products on the market, and the quality of products.
A ventilation and heat dissipation structure and heat dissipation method for an LED display (aerial screen)
We know that the consequences of "plagiarism" are conceivable. On the one hand, those companies that lack independent research and development technology, when faced with fierce competition in the market and the pressure brought by rising raw material costs, do not hesitate to sacrifice the quality of their products and blindly rely on price wars to compete. This disrupts the market order and suppresses a physical manufacturing industry that focuses on technology research and development of LED. This has caused physical manufacturers to struggle in the sea of market price wars for a long time and suffer from price wars. This will inevitably affect the momentum of independent research and development and technological innovation of enterprises. On the other hand, a large amount of plagiarism may cause an oversupply of LED displays on the market, and these products will eventually have to be sold at reduced prices. This will cause some companies to enter a vicious cycle of overcapacity, homogeneity and price competition, which will also lead the industry to a path of no return. As Wu Xiaogang, chairman of Chip Optoelectronics, said: "Our "outdoor dual protection" and "outdoor hollow screen" products
The series has been in production for five or six years, and the target market is mainly abroad. In the past few years, we applied for domestic invention patents and international PCT patents. This product is an important part of our sales. However, these two products of ours have been heavily copied. Many manufacturers have copied our products and not promoted them online, but secretly sold the copied products to customers. This also makes it impossible to know which product is authentic in the foreign market. This not only seizes our market share and causes us direct economic losses, but also seriously affects the normal order of the market. ”
An LED display module with a quick disassembly and assembly structure (dual maintenance)
As we all know, patent invention is not easy and requires a lot of money and energy. What lies behind a patent is the intellectual crystallization of an enterprise's R&D team, which should be respected and protected. The premise of "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" strongly advocated by the government today is to respect innovation and support originality. Only in this way can the development of the industry have a steady stream of living water and an inexhaustible driving force for development. Nowadays, the "plagiarism" phenomenon in the LED display industry is quite serious. It seems that there is no one who infringes on who, and it is not easy to obtain evidence. Only relatively unique invention patents may be elevated to the level of infringement. Wu Xiaogang, chairman of Chip Optoelectronics, said: "Regarding plagiarism in the industry, we first call on everyone to take the path of differentiated innovation and create their own characteristics. In addition, we do not rule out using legal weapons to protect the company's own interests. For unethical "plagiarism" behavior that disrupts the market order and makes profits, we should first call for the industry to respect the spirit of initiative, enhance innovation capabilities, lead the development of the entire industry with innovation, and consciously increase independent innovation. This is the long-term development path of every enterprise. Secondly, start-up companies in the industry should increase their awareness of intellectual property promotion and patent protection, and abandon the behavior of "appropriationism". This is the attitude of a brand that is responsible for itself, others, and the industry. We must know that the behavior of "appropriationism" has no prospects except short-term benefits. Finally, the industry should promote an atmosphere of protecting intellectual property rights, adopt an attitude of "everyone calls for beating" when it comes to bad behavior of "plagiarism", and resolutely curb the bad trends in the industry.
Anna
Anna