Apple has more and more invention patents in China.
According to the results of patent search conducted by the reporter, in Apple's patent application in China, there are five names in the column of applicants: Apple, Apple Computer Company, Apple Computer Co., Ltd., Apple Computer Company and Apple Computer (Limited) Company. These five applicants filed 65,438+0,536 patent applications.
Liu Fang told China Intellectual Property News that compared with other multinational companies, Apple's patent application in China mainly focused on product appearance and internal software principles. It is reported that Apple has not set up a research and development center in China at present, and these domestic patents are basically the same family of Apple's American patents. Liu Fang said that they "entered China as scheduled".
The reporter found through patent search that the view that "Apple's China patents are almost all design patents" may be out of date. Among the 1366 patent applications with Apple as the applicant, there are 265 patent applications for design, accounting for only 19.4%, and 944 patent applications for invention, accounting for 69. 1%.
However, due to the long examination time of invention patents and the short authorization period of design patents, 26 1 of these 265 applications for design patents have been authorized. Of the 944 invention patent applications, 229 have been authorized. Among the 642 valid patents for which "Apple Company" is the applicant, the valid patents for invention, utility model and design each account for one third, and the growth potential of invention patents is extremely considerable. It can be predicted that if there are no accidents in the next two years, the number of invention patents granted by Apple in China will increase substantially, and then Apple will have the basic ammunition to initiate patent litigation in China.
Who is likely to be involved in this war?
Will Apple's patent war spread to China? Liu Fang said that her personal opinion is that Apple may not directly "go to war" in Chinese mainland in the short term, but the marginal effect of global patent disputes will spread and ferment in China.
Liu Fang said that at present, all the participants in the global smartphone war have their own relatively independent market share in China. At the same time, these multinational companies are not familiar with the intellectual property litigation system in China, and may not rashly attack. Moreover, "the amount of infringement penalty in China will not reach the level of $6,543.8+$05 million. In reality, litigation in China will not have a great impact on other countries. " Therefore, Liu Fang believes that the "China battlefield" of "smartphone wars" will not be opened in the short term. "However, the aftershocks caused by the patent disputes between Apple and other companies will spread in China, and will also awaken and stimulate people's awareness of intellectual property rights to a great extent."
Once the patent war spreads to China, among all domestic enterprises that cross Apple's product line, who may be affected and in what form? Liu Fang predicted several possibilities.
"The first is the parts manufacturing industry. China is the manufacturing place of products of major manufacturers all over the world. The huge market is bound to cause great controversy. Disputes may occur between enterprises in China, between enterprises in Taiwan Province Province, between China and China, between enterprises in Taiwan Province Province of China, and between foreign countries and China. " Liu Fang introduced that the global demand for smart phones in 20 13 years was 10 billion units, which resulted in huge orders and manufacturing of core components such as chips and touch screens. China enterprises that manufacture these products are basically in the stage of strong market ability but poor patent application ability, which is also the stage with the greatest risk of being sued. There are also some companies whose market share is declining, and they will use patents to initiate lawsuits more actively. In addition, some network companies, software companies and hardware companies with the concept of "mobile Internet" will also actively defend their rights.
Liu Fang said: "It is worth noting that under the current situation, patent owners, including individuals and small and micro companies, are more likely to use patents than before. They will also play more roles, and through the application of patent litigation, they will achieve richer commercial operation purposes than before, such as transfer, license, alliance and so on. "
A vivid intellectual property lesson
In the years-long struggle between Apple and the whole Android camp, 20 12 is the climax. Wikipedia's "smartphone wars" (smartphone
Wars), 20 12 added 32 records. From 2012,65438+10, 17, Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung Galaxy in the federal court in Dü sseldorf, Germany.
Infringed Apple's patent, and by 201217, Judge Lucy Gao rejected Apple's permanent ban on Samsung, and the battle ran through the whole year and the whole world.
Specific to the battle between the top two companies in the world in terms of smartphone shipments, the huge compensation of $6543.8+$500 million ignited the enthusiasm of the industry and even the whole society. Many people who didn't know about patents before began to pay attention to "what is a patent", "how to produce a patent" and "the similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign patent systems". Perhaps this is why many business owners begin to pay attention to the intellectual property rights in their products.
Memorabilia of Apple and Samsung Patent Wars
On April 5, 20 1 1, Apple sued the Samsung Galaxy production line in the United States for infringement of its patent and trademark rights, including 7 invention patents, 3 design patents, 3 registered commercial packages and 6 trademark graphics.
20 1 1 On April 22nd, Samsung sued Apple for patent infringement in Korea, Japan and Germany.
On 20 11June 16, Apple adjusted the details of the lawsuit against Samsung, giving up two invention patents and1design patents, adding three invention patents and four commercial suits, and taking Samsung Galaxy as an example.
Add the 10. 1 tab to the list of litigation products.
On 20 11July1day, Apple applied to temporarily ban the sale of four Samsung products: Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G, Droid Charge and Galaxy.
Tab 10. 1 .
On August 9, 20 1 1, a German court issued a temporary injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab 10. 1, which led to the product being banned from selling in most parts of Europe.
2011kloc-01013 The judge of the American court thinks that Samsung's tablet computer infringes Apple's patent, but at the same time, he thinks that the validity of Apple's patent is doubtful.
20 12 On June 29th, Apple's request to ban the sale of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10. 1 was approved.
20 12 On July 9th, Samsung won the patent dispute with Apple in the UK.
20 12 18 In July, the British court forced Apple to apologize to Samsung publicly on its website, stating that Samsung products did not copy the iPad.
20 12 On August 23rd, a court in Seoul, South Korea claimed that Apple and Samsung infringed each other's patents, and Samsung did not copy the "look and feel" of Apple products.
20 12 on August 24th, Apple won the patent dispute with Samsung in the court of San Jose, California, and was awarded/kloc-0.05 billion US dollars.
20 12 10 year1On October 23rd, the US Patent and Trademark Office preliminarily ruled that all 20 claims in Apple's patent No.746938 1 were invalid, including claimNo. 19, which helped Apple win the lawsuit. The reason for this invalidation is that the patent is "obvious" and "lack of novelty".
20 12 12 On February 7th, the United States Patent and Trademark Office made a preliminary examination and decided to invalidate Apple's patentNo. US7479949. The inventors of this patent include Steve Jobs, the late founder of Apple.
20 12 12 17 Judge Lucy Gao rejected Apple's request for a permanent ban on Samsung.
Quotations:
"If necessary, I will use my last breath and spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion bank to get justice. I want to destroy Android because it is a stolen product and I want to launch a nuclear war against it. " -2065438+00 See Google application on HTC mobile phone.
Android (Google Android) system, Apple's late founder and former CEO Steve Jobs said.
"Samsung's products don't look as cool as the iPad, and they lack the low-key simplicity and minimalist style that Apple products are crazy about." -2065 438+02 British judge Kurt Bose declared that Samsung did not infringe Apple's patent rights.
"Today's ruling is not a victory for Apple, but a loss for American consumers." -In 2065438+02, Samsung issued a statement after the jury in San Jose, California made a verdict of $/kloc-0.05 billion.
"The lawsuit between Apple and Samsung is far more than just about patents or money. This is also a question of values. Apple attaches importance to originality and innovation and is committed to creating the best products in the world. We created these products to please customers, not to let competitors plagiarize openly. " -20 12, Apple issued a statement after the jury verdict.
"We don't believe that rounded rectangles can be used to apply for patents. We didn't realize that Apple would use this to protect the iPhone, which also sounded the alarm for us. " -David Ravi, vice president of enterprise development at Google, said after the award of $65.438+$05 million.