Marketing or vicious competition? Gree v. United States Air Conditioning Patent Infringement Claims 40 Million
OFweek smart home network message Gree sued the United States air-conditioning patent infringement of the matter has continued. The reporter learned from the United States that last week, Midea Air-Conditioner successively filed three patent infringement lawsuits against Gree in Suzhou and Guangzhou, including one invention patent and two utility model patents. The claim amount reached 40 million yuan.
At a time when the air conditioner sales season in midsummer is coming, the patent lawsuits of Gree and Midea have come to me, which shows that the technology patents are becoming new weapons for the home appliance industry. From price competition, product competition, channel competition, brand competition to patent competition, although the level of competition continues to escalate, the industry still hopes that the two giants will remain rational and avoid falling into a vicious competition.
The United States no longer responds passively
Recently, Gree filed a lawsuit against Midea and its sales company, Beijing Tianang Weiye, claiming that the US “Refrigeration King†series of air conditioners infringed on its utility model patents and claimed 50 million yuan. At present, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has accepted this case. Midea has filed an objection to civil jurisdiction objection and the case is under further investigation.
This is not the first time Gree sued the US for infringement. In 2008, Gree filed a lawsuit against Midea's “sleep comfort†function of air conditioners that infringed on “operating air conditioners and their control methods based on custom curvesâ€; in 2012, Gree filed a lawsuit against Mei’s infringement of its “installation of removable air conditioning indoor units. Baffle" utility model patent; in 2013, Gree also sued the US "grainful harvest" trademark infringement. In these lawsuits, both sides have won or lost each other.
What is different from the past is that the United States no longer passively responded to this case, but resolutely "give back one's tooth".
On June 21st this year, Midea Air-Conditioning sued the Intermediate People's Court of Suzhou Municipality to sue Gree Air-Conditioning for infringement of its invention patent of "Axial Wind Wheel" and required Gree to immediately stop the relevant infringement and pay the infringement compensation and other expenses of 30 million Yuan. . It is understood that the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court has accepted the case.
On June 26th, Midea Air-Conditioning filed a lawsuit against the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court, accusing Gree air-conditioning of infringing on its two utility model patents. One of the patented technologies simplified the packaging and placement of air conditioner accessories and improved the installation reliability of air conditioners. The United States asked Gree to stop the infringement and to pay compensation and other expenses of 5 million yuan for each of the above two violations. At present, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court has accepted the two cases.
This time the United States dared to "trace", first of all because the United States in recent years in technology research and development do not hesitate to invest heavily, determined to overtake their opponents in technological innovation. According to a research report by Thomson Reuters in 2016, the number of US technology patents ranks first in the home appliances and kitchen appliances industry worldwide. Second, the share of Midea and Gree in the home air-conditioning market in China is very close to that of the United States. According to the 618 air-conditioning report released by AVC last week, this year's “6.18†e-commerce giant has promoted, and Gree and Midea have occupied the first and second place in Gree and Midea's top ten brands of air-conditioner-branded retail sales. Their share was 26% and 25% in turn, with a difference of only one percentage point.
Patent competition will become a new normal
For Gree and Midea’s patent litigation, Zhang Yanbin, president of Auwei Cloud Network Assistant and president of the Air Conditioning Industry Research Institute, analyzed the report and said: First, the company’s competition has been upgraded to a new height. In the past, competition was mostly at the marketing level, and now it has risen to the patent level, which can reflect the shift from low-end to high-end. Second, the company's awareness of independent intellectual property rights has been strengthened, and efforts can be devoted to maintaining its own intellectual property rights. Third, the means of competition Legalization. In the past, the competition was mainly through the use of saliva. It is now up to the legal level and the significance is very important. It can be seen that household appliance companies are no longer relying solely on market measures after they have matured and have begun to actively apply legal weapons.
In fact, not only the United States, Gree, the patent competition in the home appliance industry has become more and more, especially in the competition between Chinese and foreign companies.
On April 18th this year, the US sweeping robot manufacturer iRobot initiated lawsuits against 11 competitors and accused them of infringing on the company’s six technology patents. The accused targets included three Chinese companies and eight foreign companies, including Shenzhen Zhiyi. Technology Co., Ltd., Suzhou Laibao Electric Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Yinxing Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., and Bissell, Hoover, Royal Electrical Manufacturing Co., Ltd., bObsweep, Black & Decker, etc.
Talking about this patent litigation, the chairman, CEO and founder of the American iRobot company Colin. On the occasion of an exclusive interview with reporters in Shanghai on May 17, Angelo stated, “When you enter a market, latecomers have an advantage. If you look at how people in front of you can learn and copy technology, the cost will not be so high. So, the first A company that has created such a technology patent will use intellectual property to protect the results." Inger said that in 2017, iRobot invested 100 million U.S. dollars in research and development. The patent protection will continue to invest in future innovations. In fact, China's sweeping robot companies are rising. Andre is not jealous: "China is where iRobot has important markets and opportunities."
Therefore, patent litigation is one of the means by which industry leaders clean up the market. Of course, it is more a blow to the main opponent.
In the competition of next-generation display technology OLED, South Korea's two giants have launched a patent dispute. Four or five years ago, LGD sued five Samsung Electronics products, including the Galaxy S-series smartphones and the Galaxy Tab tablet computers, for infringing their patents for OLED technology. Then, Samsung filed a lawsuit against LGD, requesting the court to rule that the latter's seven patents on OLED panel technology were ineffective. Later, both stopped the 11-month patent dispute.
Therefore, do not blame Miss Dong for being so sharp and raise the patent stick. According to public information, in terms of intellectual property protection, Gree Electric, under the leadership of Chairman and President Dong Mingzhu, formed the “industry chain-upstream supplier-competitor-downstream customer†work model and formed a patent operating system. Good economic benefits.
However, using patented weapons, this is not Gree's "patent." The senior members of the Midea Group once stated that the US patents for inventions that were infringed on the compressor were invention patents, not utility models with improved shape and structure. “It can be said that most home appliance companies in the country infringe our patents. Someone proposed to go to court and we did not sue. This would offend the entire industry. It is not necessary. Now that Gree has sued us, we are not welcome."
Judging from the current counter-appeals of the United States, the spearhead is still fighting back against Gree and has not affected the entire industry. Analysts in the home appliance industry have appealed that although Gree and Midea’s level of competition is constantly escalating, it is hoped that both parties will remain rational and avoid vicious competition “to reach out to fishâ€.
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