This change may be difficult for readers to understand at the moment. Let me explain again: for example, in the automobile industry, there will be many patents on a car, which is both a "weapon" and a "shield" for car-making enterprises. In order to prevent this product from being involved in patent disputes of other products, many parts and technologies, car companies and their suppliers will apply for patents to protect them, in short, "patent armor"!
Toyota has 23,740 public patents.
In 20 15, in order to popularize fuel cell vehicles (FCV), Toyota introduced about 5680 patented technologies related to FCV. From April 2065438 to April 2009, Toyota almost opened all patented technologies about hybrid vehicles. It is estimated that by 2030, Toyota will provide about 23,740 patented technologies related to new energy vehicles for free!
It costs money to apply for a patent It costs about 6,543,800 yen (about 60,000 RMB) to apply for a patent in Japan. If Japanese companies apply for patents overseas, the cost can reach about 3 million yen (about 6.5438+0.8 million RMB). Free patent opening means that the cost of patent application cannot be recovered and the dominant position of patent development is abandoned. If you are a competitor, you are very willing to use the patent for free. Why does Toyota choose to do something that seems to have no advantage? What are the "conspiracies" hidden behind the free opening of patents?
First-class companies "set standards"
In 20 15, Toyota opened the patented technology of FCV in order to establish a new FCV market. In order to popularize FCV vehicles, it is necessary to establish a sound infrastructure to supply fuel at any time, so it is necessary to replace the existing infrastructure or build other facilities. Although Toyota is "as rich as an enemy" in Japan, its infrastructure investment is huge, which is simply beyond the reach of a company. In order to promote the change of social trend, we must join more car companies to invest in the development of FCV cars. Only in this way can we cause the change of social trend.
Although Toyota has opened its patent, if the FCV market develops rapidly, then the basis of this market is "Toyota patent". In other words, Toyota has established the standards of the whole FCV market, which has also consolidated its "overlord" position in the FCV market, and its benefits are unimaginable. In the field of sociology, there is a word called "excess inertia", which means that once people adapt to a certain technology, it is difficult to get rid of it.
For example, now we all use touch-screen mobile phones. If any company develops some "push-button" mobile phones now, there is definitely no market, so now touch-screen mobile phones are "standardized" mobile phone products. After standardization, no matter which enterprise can occupy an advantage in the market competition, the enterprise that formulates the standard need not worry about its position being affected. Because I set the standard, you have to use it! Let me give you another example. The computer keyboard we are using now is configured according to QWERTY, which can't be said to be designed according to "ergonomics". Some people even said "difficult to learn" from the beginning. But why not be eliminated? The reason is "excess inertia". Now no one can design a keyboard combination that can shake the QWERTY configuration, even if it is designed, it can't be popularized!
Enterprises that have gained a dominant position in a certain field will standardize their own specifications in order to maintain their strong position and prevent generations from updating. But there are some ways to break this "standardized" state, and the most common one is "patent litigation". For example, from 2G to 3G, 3G to 4G, when you didn't know it, there were many patent litigation cases in the world, and there will definitely be more in the future. The most famous is the patent lawsuit between Nokia and Qualcomm!
Nokia, which has 2G technology, was once the overlord of King's Landing mobile phones. Qualcomm is a well-known semiconductor manufacturer with many patents on 3G technology, but it is difficult to shake Nokia's position. So Qualcomm took the form of "patent litigation", accusing Nokia of not paying enough "patent royalties", and Nokia fought against it. The two companies launched a fierce patent lawsuit around the world. At that time, Qualcomm's annual legal fees amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.
In the end, the two companies reached a settlement, but at the time of settlement, Nokia had declined and was finally sold to Microsoft. Why did Qualcomm choose this way? Its purpose is "deterrence", and the object of deterrence is not Nokia, but "affiliated enterprises" relying on Nokia mobile phones. Qualcomm told Nokia related companies through patent litigation that 2G is dangerous and you must move to a safe place. Where is the safe area? That's 3G technology! Threatening the "camp" of rival companies, disintegrating them internally and promoting technology transfer in the next era is one of the commonly used means in the patent session.