Huawei handed over a transcript in 2022 and took the first test in Europe, ahead of two South Korean peers. At the same time, Ren Zheng informally sounded the rallying call for a patent battle, and the United States may not be happy.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei. (file picture)
The latest news, the latest report of the European Patent Office (EPO) shows that Huawei will apply for a total of 3,544 patents in 2021, making it the company that applied for the most patents to the EPO last year, followed by Samsung (3,439) and LG (2,422). “Electronic Engineering Album” reported that in EPO’s Top 25 list, “Huawei, OPPO, ZTE, and Baidu are four Chinese companies on the list. Among them, Huawei and OPPO have appeared in the TOP25 for three consecutive years.” However, the situation It is still the strongest in the United States, with 25 top companies. The United States has 8 companies, ranking first; Germany and China have 4 companies, second only to the United States; Japan has 3 companies, South Korea and the Netherlands have 2 companies each, and Finland and Sweden have 1 company each. . An EPO spokesman said the number of patent applications received by the authorities from China had increased by 400% in the past decade; the number of Chinese patent applications in 2021 showed a “very dynamic development trend”.
Huawei, which was fully sanctioned by the United States in 2019, although its overall business and revenue declined significantly, Huawei’s 2021 annual report shows that its investment in technology research and development as a percentage of revenue still hit a new high. In the past year, Huawei’s R&D investment reached 142.7 billion yuan, exceeding 22% of its annual revenue, and the accumulated R&D expenditure in ten years exceeded 845 billion yuan.
Huawei is also the company with the largest number of patents in the world and has maintained its leading position for many years. In February this year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the figures for 2021, and Huawei ranked first with 6,952 patent applications. Huawei has topped the application list for five consecutive years. At the same time, a total of 13 Chinese companies entered the top 50 international patent rankings.
“Huawei Voice Community” yesterday released an email “Patent Licensing Business Report” signed by President Ren Zhengfei, saying: “We must establish Huawei’s image as an innovator through reasonable patent fees; we must be prepared to fight a ‘protracted battle’, and do not seek quick wins. I am not afraid of failure, and it is successful to collect more and less. Charging is not the ultimate goal, the most important thing is to clarify the relationship between the two parties through communication and negotiation.”
Ren Zhengfei said: “In the past, our intellectual property was for self-defense and to ensure the security of our own business. After so many years of accumulation, we have formed several major fields such as 5G, WiFi 6, audio and video codec, optical transmission, and optical intelligence. We have acquired a high-value patent package and have a certain right to speak. We must build a reasonable price benchmark, so that the industry can use our patented technology fairly and reasonably, and while obtaining appropriate R&D returns, it is also conducive to our establishment in the international community. The image of an innovator; we use someone else’s patent and we have to pay a reasonable fee, thus establishing intellectual property values and soil that is conducive to innovation around the world.”
Companies invest huge amounts of money in research and development to obtain patent results, and user fees are only natural. For example, in the past, the United States used this field alone to control the development of the global technology ecosystem and make a lot of money. Why is Ren Zhengfei so cautious in his e-mails Humility, and said that it doesn’t matter if you receive more and less?
What everyone does not know is that the United States, which talks about protecting intellectual property rights and respecting the spirit of research and development, is actually only used to exercising hegemony. Seeing that Huawei’s patents are increasing, Americans are quite unhappy. In 2019, a U.S. congressman proposed a motion to not allow the protection of Huawei’s patent rights. Legal sources say that “Chinese companies have learned how to use the US legal system to serve their own interests” but because Huawei is on the US Entity List, it shouldn’t “use the US legal system so easily and not should have the same rights” – because (Huawei) did something wrong and caused harm, so “should not enjoy the benefits of those reputable companies”.
If you still don’t understand Ren Zhengfei’s situation, I will make a vulgar analogy: the Guili Group will only violently collect the amount, and in turn you have to bargain with the Guili Group, unless you play well and have a little patience. .
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