Interpretation of the patent situation under the re integration of LED resources

The patent has been the core issue with the development of industry, and many enterprises want to talk and keep from talking about problems, at present, the patent application of LED in China is more concentrated in the lower stage, the upper reaches of the core technology very little, but the influence is just upstream of the core technology of foreign giants manipulation of industrial development. At present, the development of China's LED industry can be said to be in a critical stage, but also facing the opportunities brought about by the integration of the industry, then the industry integration will bring the integration and development of the patent?

The overall situation of international patents

The current global LED patent can be divided into three camps, Japan, European and American manufacturers as the first camp, which, with Nichia, TOYOTA, CREE, OSRAM, Lamierde synthesis (PHILPS) as the representative of the Japanese, European and American manufacturers as the main force, with core technology and strong patent strength, cultivated in the upstream epitaxial chip and general lighting, automotive lighting market for many years. China's Taiwan and Korean enterprises into second camps, a huge production capacity in China Taiwan enterprises have chip manufacturing, packaging, South Korean enterprises with the strategy of large enterprises and the vertical integration of consumer electronics has become a complete industrial chain, the late semiconductor lighting industry show, is the high-speed growth. Chinese mainland enterprises for the third camp. The scale of China's LED industry is rapidly expanding, as of the end of 2012, China's semiconductor lighting enterprises more than 7000, of which more than 1000 enterprises above Designated Size, more than 20 listed companies. Annual output value of 250 billion yuan in the industry, LED lighting products accounted for more than 60% of global production.

LED is currently the main patent holder has 9 companies in Japan, only one is South Korea's Samsung Corp. Japan has an absolute advantage in the field of semiconductor lighting. In the top ten of the patentee in the company, the company focused on the master LED core chip manufacturing technology industry recognized contains only two, namely TOYOTA synthesis and Nichia, while out on the top three of the Matsushita, SHARP and Samsung are important and display electronic products manufacturers. Nichia, OSRAM (OSRAM), TOYOTA (Toyoda Gosei) synthesis and other world-class companies to achieve long-term leading market, improve market control ability, through mutual patent authorization and other means, strengthen mutual cooperation, in order to monopoly on high-end technology and market, resulting in the semiconductor lighting market first, to obtain high profits. At the same time, the rapid development of technology has forced these companies to give up the idea of independent development, but tend to multilateral technical cooperation.

In the development of our country in recent years also gradually began to pay attention to patent protection and avoidance, but China's patent application and layout more concentrated in appearance and practical aspects, such as the utility model patents accounted for about 53%, about the appearance of 25% patents. At the same time in all LED patents in China, in the packaging, application areas accounted for a large, packaging accounted for 42%, accounting for about 41% of the total, accounting for about 9% of the driver, epitaxial accounted for 3%, white light, chip 2%, substrate of 1%.

Infringement, litigation has been getting closer and closer to us

Before 2002, Nichia Corporation in the field of LED lighting intellectual property lord it over a district, followed by PHILPS, OSRAM and other companies and warlords. At present, the five giants have completed the cross licensing of patents between each other, forming a form of industry alliance, the entire control of the white LED industry. Patent has become an effective weapon for the giants to maintain the existing pattern of industry, with the progress of technology and mature, the industry is gradually solidified the pattern. Once the main technical field of complete cross licensing and alliance building, will mean China's enterprises to enter the field only in the periphery and downstream work, when it may we have the industrial scale, but there is no industry profits.

Take white LED, the manufacture of a white LED chip, including substrate, buffer layer, epitaxial (functional layer, especially the light-emitting area), chip manufacturing, electrodes, etc.. The main substrate material for sapphire and SiC, sapphire substrate technology development by Nichia, silicon carbide substrate technology from the CREE development. Nichia patent JP2632239 sapphire substrate (92.06), JP2795294 (93.04), the basic patent in Japan patent application is not same in other countries and regions. From the Nichia sapphire sapphire using patent layout view, outside of Japan to do the substrate itself does not constitute infringement. CREE silicon carbide substrate technology, such as the core of US5631190 has a patent license in China, so the use of silicon carbide substrate infringement risk.

Interpretation of the patent situation under the re integration of LED resources

Between 1996 and 2012, nearly 200 lawsuits have been filed against LED. The prosecution to Nichia, PHILPS, CREE, and Seoul semiconductor etc.. In 2008, a retired professor of Columbia University in the United States with a LED patent infringement to the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) filed on, honglitronic, Shenzhen, Dalian and Hangzhou Lei Chau Road America company Chinese Silan azure launched the "337" survey of enterprises. In the end, several domestic LED companies to pay a settlement fee of several hundred million dollars, the 337 survey in China LED industry shock is huge. Four years later, in April 16, 2012, Germany Frankfurt building and lighting exhibition second, a group of German Customs personnel rushed to the booth in front of a domestic enterprise and a collection of LED lighting the piracy and copyright infringement. The patent infringement of the enterprise is the intellectual property rights of Shenzhen Ming Ming Semiconductor Lighting Co., ltd.. From such