LED veterans change their strategies to jump out of the whirlpool As the patent deadline approaches, these LED industry owners with key technology patents recognize this and continue to adopt a litigation strategy that is not beneficial to the increasingly weak patent term umbrella. Because in the existing market, facing the violent offensives of Taiwan and South Korean players, these traditional players, including Nichia, OSRAM, etc., will insist on more difficult challenges if they insist on sticking to it, and also because of complicated and lengthy procedures. Indirectly weakens the power of developing new technologies. Therefore, under the fierce technical competition environment, major LED companies such as Europe, the United States and Japan have changed their past market strategies. For example, companies such as Nichia, Toyota Synthetic, Cree, Philips, and OSRAM have actively adopted mutual authorization to evade patent issues. Such changes were unimaginable 45 years ago. Because as of 2003, these companies have been hot on patent infringement lawsuits in order to maintain their position. Because of this, other players, including LED packagers and LED application companies, have also been unwarrantedly involved in the litigation. Therefore, it can be found that from 2002 to 2003, the noticeable cases have gradually been settled by means of exchange and authorization.
The major LED operators jumped out of the whirlpool of litigation. From a benign development point of view, because of expanding the scope of authorization and mutual commissioning of production, it is actually the development of an operating model that authorizes the collection of royalties and authorized foundries. For example, OSRAM adopts the method of persuasion rights, authorizes Yiguang, Guangbao, Hongqi, and Nichia, Toyota Synthetic authorized Jingyuan Optoelectronics OEM, AVAGO, OSRAM authorized Hongqi production, Nichia, Hitachi authorized Guanglei OEM Production, etc.. Allow LED application operators to obtain lower-cost and better-quality LEDs, while also allowing LED operators to concentrate on developing next-generation LED key technologies to consolidate existing market opportunities and benefits.
Another wave of lawsuit vortex is about to start. Therefore, traditional LED manufacturers such as Europe, America and Japan have begun to negotiate production with Asian emerging companies with mid-end production technology and capabilities. In terms of patent rights, traditional LED manufacturers have also emerged and manufactured. A strong industry creates a new situation of cooperation. Because in the face of impending patent protection, it is better to form alliances with these emerging companies because of the huge amount of human capital to obtain the compensation for winning the lawsuit. The collection of authorization funds in areas such as BRICs will not only greatly improve the performance, but even expand This shift in emerging markets is also good news for emerging LED manufacturers and LED applications, as it can improve the quality of products and expand new sales channels for emerging LED operators. In addition to avoiding being involved in patent disputes, the industry can also obtain lower cost, high quality LEDs.
If it continues to develop, I believe that the overall change is not only this, but what is brought about is that these emerging LED manufacturers will draw closer to the technology distance of traditional LED manufacturers, as well as more one-way authorization and cross-licensing. Next, production opportunities will flow to Taiwan with low manufacturing costs, and these changes are unwilling to be seen by traditional LED manufacturers. On the other hand, these emerging LED operators must continue to develop new technologies to expand the patent umbrella. The impact is that another wave of lawsuits led by the emerging LED industry is about to begin. The number of cross-authorizations in the future is believed to be no longer just a few in front of us, but will be expanded to more than a dozen. By then, the complexity will be more than today.
In order to avoid the waste of resources due to litigation, the patent authorization that is driven may be a good starting point for development, but on the other hand, because of the miscellaneous industrial base, this will be the next wave of tit-for-tat. The fuse, how to do it in order to meet the maximum interests, will test the intelligence of traditional LED manufacturers.
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September 24, 2018