Text/Song Shuanghui
Do you still remember that last month I talked to you about a lawsuit between Nokia and Daimler? (Portal: Daimler took advantage of Nokia and was unwilling to pay for the huge patent fees, but was sentenced to lose)
As a company that holds a handful of mobile communications patents, Nokia allows car companies to follow the rules of each vehicle. Volkswagen, BMW, and Volvo all agreed to pay the patent fees, but Daimler did not agree, so the two parties began a lawsuit.
Last month, the German Mannheim Court ruled against Daimler. If Nokia is willing to hand over a deposit of 7 billion euros, it will have the right to stop Daimler from selling cars in Germany. Fortunately, 7 billion euros The euro is not a small sum, so Daimler is safe for the time being and has also filed a countersuit.
But this month, Nokia’s ally Sharp dealt Daimler another blow.
On September 10, the Munich Court in Germany ruled that Sharp won the case against Daimler for patent infringement. Sharp also won an injunction banning Daimler from selling cars in Germany, and this time the deposit was only 5.5 million. Euro, which means that once Sharp wants to come for real, Daimler may really not be able to sell cars.
The headache is not over yet.
The reason why Sharp became an ally of Nokia is because they joined technology companies such as Qualcomm in a patent licensing platform called Avanci LLC, which also charges car companies a patent fee on a per-car basis. The platform advances unanimously.
The traditional approach in the automotive industry is that car companies ask parts suppliers to come forward and deal with patent companies to deal with licensing issues. The patent fees are included in the components and sold to car companies. For example, Continental Group provides Daim Automotive telematics control components provided by LE are priced at US$100 each.
But the Avanci? LLC platform has changed the rules of the game and charges patent fees directly from car companies. Patents involving connected cars are divided into three levels - emergency call, 3G and 4G, and the fees are for each vehicle. $3-$15.
You may think that the patent license fee of 3-15 US dollars per car is not much, but parts suppliers such as Daimler and Continental think the cost is too high. Continental said that 15 US dollars per car A US$100 in 4G patent fees is more profitable than a US$100 telematics control component.
The most important thing is that it bypasses parts suppliers. The party that owns the patent directly negotiates terms with the car company, and each car involves more than one patent, which makes Daimler very difficult. accurate.
Originally Daimler was not fighting alone. Navigation companies TomTom, Bosch and Continental were all helping Daimler appeal. Continental also launched an antitrust lawsuit against members of Avanci LLC in the United States.
But unfortunately, the day after Sharp won the lawsuit, the Texas federal court dismissed Continental’s lawsuit, believing that the patent licensing platform bypassed parts suppliers and directly negotiated licensing agreements with car companies. , does not violate antitrust laws, it is just maximizing the value of patents.
Why does Daimler argue so hard and risk being banned from selling cars? This is because cars will become more and more interconnected in the future. A smart car is full of electronic products and wireless Technology patents are very critical. Whether you want to make Bluetooth calls, listen to music, or activate emergency rescue services in the car, you must use these wireless technologies.
And the Avanci? LLC platform is pricing 5G patents. By then it will not just be a matter of $15 for a car, and Daimler does not want to see costs continue to rise.
But for the members of Avanci LLC, 5G is a good opportunity for them to make more profits, and the automotive industry is just a channel for profit. In this era of the Internet of Everything, any electronic All appliances need to be connected to the Internet, including the refrigerator in your home, the combine harvester on the farm, and the medical equipment in the hospital.
What is before Nokia and Sharp is a huge gold mine. They cannot give up and will not let go of any company. The lawsuit with Daimler is more like a demonstration. The purpose is not to prohibit the other party from selling cars. The purpose is to tell other companies by winning one lawsuit after another that they should pay the money and stop struggling.
In the words of Jorge Contreras, a law professor at the University of Utah who specializes in patent law, “In the final analysis, it’s all about money and no other issues.
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This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.