Lighting industry must see patent protection "five"

The World Intellectual Property Day was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization on April 26, 2001, and decided that since April 2001, every year on April 26th, it will be designated as "World Intellectual Property Day," with the aim of establishing respect for knowledge worldwide. , advocating science and protecting intellectual property awareness, creating a legal environment that encourages knowledge innovation and protects intellectual property rights.

In recent years, China is moving from a large intellectual property country to a strong intellectual property country. The protection of intellectual property rights has become a consensus of the entire society. At present, China has built up a relatively stable intellectual property protection system in terms of legal systems, regulatory measures, corporate behavior, and public awareness. With the comprehensive deepening of the reform of the science and technology system, the use and protection of intellectual property rights have been continuously strengthened. This not only provides strong guarantees for innovation-driven development, but also stimulates the vitality of public entrepreneurship and innovation.

At present, the outbreak of the global economic crisis has declared the world economy entering a period of "major adjustment" and "great transition." The superposition of this large-age background and China's phased factors has determined that China's economy has entered a “new normal” period in which the growth rate has dropped, and it has presented new phenomena and new laws that are different from the periodic adjustment.

The new normal economy in the lighting industry is mainly characterized by the end of the era of making big money and making quick money. Consumers are no longer blindly pursuing low-priced products, instead choosing quality, innovation, individuality, and high-quality products; The more companies realize that it is impossible to obtain high returns by relying on cheap labor and expansion.

Opportunities and Risks Coexist

However, the "new normal" is not only limited by difficulties, challenges and risks. The "new normal" also engenders many opportunities for development. Carefully sorting out various indicators of the technical innovation and development of professional town Guzhen of the lighting industry, we will find that the Guzhen Town lighting industry innovation model has emerged; at the same time, the Guzhen town government has provided strong support for the innovation of enterprises, starting from January 2015 The Guzhen town government has subsidized 300-800 yuan per patent application, and in addition to the fast track, it greatly shortens the time for enterprises to apply for patents. With the joint efforts of enterprises and the government, the technical innovation of Guzhen town Will gradually realize.

At present, the role of patented innovations in the lighting industry has become more and more prominent, but patent disputes facing the lighting industry are also increasing. Some enterprises that do not pay attention to patent protection have paid a terrible price for this. At the same time, the patent system is a double-edged sword. To apply for a patent, technical information must be disclosed. Enterprises can search for patent information, use patented technology that has been invalidated, or have defective patents. (Patent documents do not cover incomplete patent protection or patent claims. There are loopholes that can be bypassed by patent protection to use this technology without infringement. For patent-free companies, "patent technology" can also be used.

Five steps to safeguarding rights

After the patentee obtains the patent right and discovers that there are allegedly infringements of patent rights on the market, how should he protect his rights? Specifically, patent rights protection is divided into five steps.

The first step is to confirm the validity of the rights. An effective patent is the foundation of all rights protection. After the patent is granted, it must pay the annual fee to the national intellectual property office every year. If the patentee forgets to pay the annual fee, it will invalidate the patent, so the right holder must pay attention to his patent at all times. The legal status.

The second step is to compare the infringements. Confirm whether the alleged infringing product falls into the scope of protection of patent rights. The so-called infringement comparison refers to comparing the technical features of the alleged infringing product with the technical features described in the patent claim, only if the technical features of the allegedly infringing product are completely the same as the technical features described in the claims or are completely covered. Although there are several features that distinguish but constitute simultaneous infringement, if the technical characteristics of the allegedly infringing product are less than the technical features described in the claim or if some of the features are not the same, it does not constitute infringement. What needs to be emphasized is that when comparing infringements, the accused infringing products are compared with the features of patented technologies.

The third step is to confirm the stability of the rights. According to the relevant provisions of the current “Patent Law”, the State Intellectual Property Office will only conduct substantive examination of patents for inventions during the examination of patent applications, and will only conduct formal examinations of utility models and designs, that is, they will not have utility models and appearances. The design review has the same or similar structure and design before the filing date. Therefore, before patent rights holders perform rights protection, they must first confirm the stability of the patent rights, how to confirm the stability of the patent rights, and can search for and analyze prior patents by themselves or by commissioned agencies, or they can entrust the State Intellectual Property Office to issue the patents. The rights evaluation report takes about 2 months to issue the evaluation report. At present, the Guzhen Rapid Rights Protection Center has a special design database and is provided for free use by enterprises. Guzhen enterprises can go for search queries.

The fourth step is to collect evidence. The core point of the case is to compare the alleged infringing product with the characteristics of the patented technology; at the same time, the patentee should also collect other evidence of infringement, such as the sales of the alleged infringing product, the profitability of the infringer, and the patentee’s Loss, the nature and circumstances of the infringement, etc. to confirm the amount of the claim.

Fifth, take rights protection measures. Patent rights protection usually has the following three forms: administrative complaints are filed with the competent patent authorities, lawsuits are filed in the courts, and products for export can be reported to the customs. First of all, administrative complaints can be reported to the Guzhen Rapid Rights Protection Center for the exterior design of Guzhen enterprise. The rights protection center will request the product to be removed from the market. If it is a patent for invention and a utility model, it shall make a complaint to the Zhongshan Intellectual Property Office. If it is to sue to the court, some lawsuits should be used. Before or when the lawsuit is filed with the court, the court can apply to the court for a pre-indictment ban, prohibiting the infringer from continuing the infringement. For export products, it is also possible to report to the customs, and it is recommended that the patentee first submit the patent to the customs for intellectual property rights filing.

The market competition in the lighting industry has been extremely fierce. Enterprises only have innovation, constantly developing new products, adapting to the needs of consumers, leading the market, seizing market opportunities, and can bring huge profits to the company. As Karsten Fink said, "The fruits of innovation are patents, today's innovation will plant the seeds of tomorrow's economic growth."