Quan Shunyu didn't take it seriously, and went straight to the point: "I still remember the MP3 electronics factory in Kaichengtou when you and I made political achievements for Vice Minister Pan last year? After that, I began to care about the layout of the MP3 industry." Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info Recently, Samsung and Apple are preparing to fight a lawsuit over MP3 patents, and people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have intervened to mediate. I have a few friends in the Outer Communication Department, so I'm well informed. ”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade (MOFCOM) in Dongyi are combined. If there are a few friends in this circle, and some cross-border trade dispute litigation that has not yet started on the table, Quan Shunyu can find out the news in advance. Even the details of pre-trial preparation and evidence exchange may be known.

Samsung is the head of the five major chaebols in Dongyi, and it is also the largest exporter.

Gu Cheng rushed to register a few MP3 patents in May last year, wanting to set up a set for Apple. At the moment, he is naturally more concerned about the inside story in this regard, and after listening to the topic mentioned by Quan Shunyu, he immediately asked him to stop the ink: "Hurry up and talk about the point!"

Kwon Soon-yu clearly stated: "SAMSUNG COPIED SOME OF THE IPOD'S DESIGN, AND LAUNCHED A NEW AND NEW MP3 IN THE SECOND QUARTER, WHICH SOLD WELL LOCALLY AND IN FUSO. THEN APPLE TOOK OUT THE IPOD PATENT AND SUED SAMSUNG. ”

Gu Cheng was stunned: "Directly plagiarize the design nakedly? Samsung is not afraid of losing money in lawsuits?"

Quan Shunyu showed a smug expression of "you don't understand the doorway here" and explained: "WHEN APPLE LAUNCHED THE IPOD, IT DID NOT DIRECTLY PUBLISH THE PATENT, SO EVEN IF SAMSUNG COPIED IT, THERE IS NO 'MALICIOUS INFRINGEMENT COMPENSATION', AT MOST IT IS JUST A RECOURSE TO SOME 'COMPENSATION ROYALTIES'." ”

As soon as Quan Shunyu explained this, Gu Cheng immediately understood.

Patents are not legally protected as soon as they are applied, as most people think.

This is because after the application, if the right holder does not take the initiative to request disclosure, the statutory confidentiality preliminary examination stage will be 18 months. In addition, in the substantive examination stage, it is normal for a patent to be approved after 3 years.

Especially in the first 18 months, because it is a 'confidential examination', the world will theoretically not know that you have applied for a patent. Therefore, even if it is violated, it is considered "negligence" in law.

Although I actually think about it on my toes, I also know that a large company like Apple must attach great importance to patents, and the product has not been published yet, so it applied for a patent first. But as long as "theoretically I have the right not to know", Samsung can pretend to be pure, and then imitate the design, first produce and sell to make money for a while.

After Apple defended itself and took the initiative to disclose its confidentiality application in advance, Samsung stopped the infringement and said, "I didn't know you applied for a patent", which meant a little money.

At this time, there will be a big gap between the money given and the knowingly infringing after "the other party's patent has been disclosed".

After the other party's patent has been disclosed, and then the infringement and claim are made, the money to be compensated is called "infringement damages", which is punitive.

However, the "negligent use" of the other party's patent before the disclosure only requires "reasonable royalties". This is compensatory, and Apple can't ask for a sky-high price.

In this case, Samsung is certainly pretending to be confused and knowingly rubbing some oil, but Apple is not necessarily a good bird.

Gu Cheng can fully imagine that if this time it is not a giant of the same weight like Samsung to counterfeit, but a smaller company, the scale of infringement after counterfeiting is not large, and the sales amount is not much, Apple may not even take the initiative to request the disclosure of its patent application, but follow Gu Cheng's example, and keep it secret for 18 months or 30 months after applying for a patent (including the priority date of re-application after withdrawal)

The advantage of this is to touch porcelain, deliberately release water to raise fish to lure others to infringe. After the rabbit and kitten stepped on the trap, they deliberately did not start, so that the cautious onlookers thought that there was no trap here, and then waited for the tiger and leopard to step on it before closing the net.

GU CHENG DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO THINK ABOUT THE MUTUAL CALCULATIONS OF SAMSUNG AND APPLE, HE ONLY CARED ABOUT THE ISSUES HE SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT: "SO, AS SOON AS THIS CASE IS FILED, APPLE'S IPOD PATENT APPLICATION DATE SHOULD BE MADE PUBLIC, RIGHT?

Quan Shunyu blurted out: "In July last year - he released it at the end of October and shipped it in batches in January this year." JUDGING FROM THE R&D CYCLE, IPOD IS NOT DIFFICULT, AND IT WAS DEVELOPED IN 3 MONTHS. When Samsung filed the complaint, it also made a point of saying that Apple's patent was not difficult to develop and there was no 'outstanding substantive innovation', and hoped to apply for a declaration that Apple's patent was invalid. ”

Gu Cheng was glad for a while: he applied for the first time in China in May last year, two months earlier than Jobs.

Gu Cheng and Jobs are like two hunters digging traps in the forest, both wearing the disguise of snipers, and neither of them knows the location of the other party. Originally, Gu Cheng was worried about whether the pit he dug was early enough, whether it was before Apple.

Now Samsung, a pathfinder who walks at night, has detonated Apple's pit in advance, and Gu Cheng, who is still hiding in the shadows, is immediately pleasantly surprised to find that he really dug earlier than Jobs.

Take your time, brother is not in a hurry, brother will sell physical records for another year. When the cold winter of the Internet in China has passed, the Internet speed of netizens has generally improved, and MP3 has become popular, this patented submarine will be detonated.

Jobs thought he had calculated Li Zairong, but he definitely didn't expect that there was a black gun behind him.

However, at present, Gu Cheng has not yet completely relieved, and he needs to care about the details of Samsung's appeal against Apple's "patent invalidity". So he was ashamed to ask: "Brother, do you know the inside story of Samsung's reply and Apple's rebuttal?" ”

Quan Shunyu only knew that Gu Cheng cooperated with him to get a shell of an MP3 electronics factory, and Gu Cheng himself had laid out some R&D products, but he didn't know that Gu Cheng was going to dig a hole for Jobs. Seeing that Gu Cheng cared so much about the details, he was a little strange, but he still told everything he had heard.

"You may not be very familiar with the Patent Law, which requires 'outstanding substantive innovation' and 'significant technological progress' for the recognition of inventions. Because it is impossible for something to be a little new, the invention application will be approved casually.

A patent cannot be granted if a technology is found to be 'a simple combination of prior art, or an obvious result that can be deduced from several prior arts and the common knowledge of the technical personnel'.

Even if a patent has already been granted, if the opponent requests the patent office to determine that the technology is "a simple combination of prior technology and common knowledge, and does not have outstanding substantive innovations", the patent office can also make a ruling that the original patent grant is invalid.

Samsung's reason for appeal in this case is that each of the technical features of the large-capacity hardware suitable for MP3, the LCD screen that displays lyrics and playlists, and the scroll wheel controls are obvious prior art when taken out alone, and that Jobs just pieced together these three existing things, so how can it be regarded as an invention? Judging from the short research and development cycle of two or three months, it also proves that this thing is not difficult, but it can be made immediately after figuring out the idea. ”

Gu Cheng nodded slightly when he heard this, Samsung's legal department really didn't eat dry food, and the reason he said was really to the point.

"And how did Jobs's men argue?"

Jobs's reply should be to the effect that the "existence of significant substantive innovation and significant technological progress" in a technology should not be based solely on whether it has been developed through a combination of prior technology and common knowledge.

In other words, R&D difficulty should not be a criterion for the degree of technological innovation. The technology involved in an invention is also considered a "prominent substantive innovation" as long as it "overcomes the existing technical bias and produces an unexpected effect that is not anticipated by a person skilled in the art". ”

Nice defense!

"Overcoming the inherent technical bias of a person skilled in the art" is the most classic defense in patent law litigation that the other party to the litigation "the art is only a simple combination of prior art and common knowledge".

And as long as it can be proven, it is often possible to save many inventions that seem to be difficult to develop and only lack a flash of inspiration, and win the lawsuit.

This reason may not be well understood by the layman, but it is easy to understand by translating it with an example in human language.

For example, as early as the mid-to-late 19th century, metallurgical industrialists at that time discovered that "mixing manganese elements into steel can improve the hardness of steel plates, but they will become brittle and brittle like steel plates." The higher the manganese content, the harder and more brittle it is."

Therefore, according to this "common knowledge" or "technical bias", any formula that further increases the manganese content in manganese steel is not worthy of patentability: because it is only a further deduction of the "existing disclosed technology".

However, in 1882, Hadfield discovered a phenomenon: common sense only tested steel with a manganese content of less than 5%, and then concluded the above-mentioned "technical bias", and then stopped trying. But Hadfield further exaggerated the test of high manganese steel, and after testing it all the way above the 12% cut-off point, the properties of manganese steel changed qualitatively: it became hard, tough and wear-resistant, and the brittleness suddenly disappeared.

It was granted a patent by the British Patent Office in 1883.

Because this conclusion overturns the "prior art bias" and has an "unexpected technical effect", even if it is a "simple accumulation of prior art", it still conforms to the "proposed substantive innovation" under the patent law.

In other words, you also know that manganese steel will become harder and more brittle, so why don't you spend money to continue experimenting and see if there are any other unexpected miracles?

The Hadfield case has almost become a typical case in case law countries where "prior art bias was overcome when applying common sense", and has been cited by the United States and the United Kingdom for more than 100 years, and has become the criterion for countries around the world to judge the difficulty of inventive step of such patents with the Paris Convention.

The meaning of Jobs's quote is also obvious: you Li Zairong knows that large hard disks can be "simply combined" with MP3, why don't you Samsung try and then develop new product forms that revolve around this technology application?

SO, JOBS PROVED THAT IPOD PATENTS ARE INNOVATIVE ENOUGH.

Sadly, every word Jobs said today, more than half a year later, will "turn the stars and move the stars" to Jobs himself, and he will take this punch firmly.

The corners of Gu Cheng's mouth couldn't help but sneer with excitement. The more exquisite the martial arts of the person who fought against Gusu Murong, the more miserable the final death would be.

People who know him will shudder every time they see this expression on his face.

I don't know who I'm calculating again.

"Brother, please, don't you have a friend in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? This case helped me keep an eye on the whole process. All of Jobs' pleadings, help me collect the full text, is it possible?"

Gu Cheng put forward his own request, he knew that the judicial process in Western countries is very slow, and even if a case seeks out-of-court settlement, it may not be completed in a year and a half. So he also needs to ask Shunyu's friends to help him inquire about the follow-up situation

At that time, you can also save some lawyer's fees.

Copy the full text of Jobs' reply today, word for word, and change the name. When the time comes, you can win by hiring a cheaper lawyer.

"What do you want all this for? Okay, it's not a bother, I've got you covered. Quan Shunyu couldn't understand Gu Cheng's purpose, so he simply didn't want to do it, just help.

Gu Cheng was in a good mood, and continued to listen with a lot of face: "You just said that there are two business news, what is the second one?"