OFweek Smart Home Network News A lawsuit and anti-litigation war on patents broke out between the white giants Gree Electric and Midea. On June 22, the person in charge of Midea Air Conditioning confirmed to the Huaxia Times reporter that the decision of the United States initiated an anti-litigation. Prior to this, Gree filed a patent lawsuit against Midea's "Refrigeration King" series of air conditioners.
"See you in court" is no stranger to the two giants. Behind the frequent lawsuits, the competition between the two sides in the air-conditioning field has become increasingly intense. After the scale of the air-conditioning market has reached a ceiling, the two companies are also competing in diverse areas.
Litigation and anti-litigation
The smell of gunpowder between the white giants Gree and Midea seems never to have subsided.
The latest lawsuit accepted by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court was a utility model patent dispute. The contents of the WeChat public number issued by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court on June 19 showed that Gree believes that the "Refrigerating King" series of air conditioners manufactured and sold by the United States constitute patent infringement. Beijing Tianang Weiye Trading Co., Ltd., which sells this series of air conditioners, was also sued by Gree. Gree submitted a compensation of 50 million yuan to two defendant companies. This is also the highest amount of compensation claimed by Gree and Midea.
According to the "Huaxia Times" reporter, the patent involved in the case was "panel body bulge" technology. Gree applied for a patent in April 2010 and was authorized in December 2010. This technology is used in Gree's all-powerful king series, U series and other products. Insiders commented on the “Huaxia Shibao†reporter: “What is really valuable to the company is the invention patent. The utility model is a small innovation in application, including the appearance of patents, and the companies are not valued very much.â€
On June 22, the head of Gree's marketing department told the Huaxia Times reporter: “The fact that Gree sued the United States for the infringement itself disrupted the market. Gree’s action is mainly to urge everyone to respect intellectual property rights.â€
The United States immediately counterattack. According to the "Huaxia Times" reporter, Midea has filed a civil jurisdiction objection application. The U.S. anti-litigation against Gree has already begun its actions. Previously, it was reported that Midea may infringe on its patent right against a number of Gree products, raising as many as 10 patent litigations at a time. These products include air conditioners, compressors, fans, rice cookers, washing machines and more.
The person in charge of Midea Air Conditioning told the Huaxia Times reporter that the content and quantity of counterclaims are based on the plaintiff’s complaint. According to its understanding, courts in some cases have been accepted.
For the counter- lawsuits of the United States, Gree’s head of the marketing department responded to the “Huaxia Shibao†reporter and told the court. He also said that the anti-litigation against the United States is not well evaluated and it is clear to see what the United States has done before.
It needs to be mentioned that Gree also sued Oaks, another air conditioning company, in the High Court of Guangdong Province in May this year and asked the court to confirm Oakes’ infringement and award a compensation of 110 million yuan. If Gree's lawsuit is successful, it will set a maximum amount of compensation for the domestic appliance industry in the intellectual property field.
Behind the smell of gunpowder
"See you at the court" is no stranger to Gree and Midea who have faced each other several times in the fields of academic fraud and infringement of trademark exclusive rights.
In January 2016, Gree’s employees took the lead in reporting Microblogging’s real-world academic fraud, and the employees of the United States subsequently reported Gree on Weibo’s real name on the grounds of academic fraud. This employee’s real-name report against a competitor eventually evolved into a mutual prosecution of the company’s employees.
In July 2015, the dust settled by the two companies competing for grain trademarks was settled. The Guangdong Provincial High Court judges that Midea must not produce and sell the air-conditioner models involved in the case, but it is not necessary to apologize to Gree and publicly.
Outside the "See you at the Court," the high-level remarks of both parties are also quite strong. Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric, accuses Xiaomi of strategically investing in the United States as "a pair of fraudsters and a thieves group." The relationship between Gree and the United States is based on the verbal battle between Fang Mingbo and Dong Mingzhu and Chairman of the Group Fang Hongbo. The next "liangzi" will last forever.
Behind the clamouring of both sides, senior appliance observer Hong Shibin analyzed with the China Times reporter that in recent years, the United States and Gree have always exposed this common problem. The logic behind this is that the competition between the two sides is intensified. Gree also claimed in the lawsuit filed in the Beijing Intellectual Property Court that Midea’s company sold the accused infringing products at a low price and eroded Gree’s market.
At the Gree shareholders meeting in May this year, Dong Mingzhu announced that Gree’s air-conditioning market is now twice as big. She said at the time that Gree had the ability to achieve a single air-conditioner market of 150 billion to 200 billion yuan. Gree’s greatest resistance to this goal comes from the United States.
Gree and Midea respectively occupy the top two in the air-conditioning market. Both parties cited different statistics to illustrate their industry status. "Industry Online" data shows that in 2016 Gree home air conditioner domestic market share reached 42.73%. The China Yikang data shows that the company's air-conditioning business in 2016 accounted for 23.9% of the market, ranking second.
From the perspective of revenue, revenue from air-conditioning business in the United States decreased by approximately RMB 21.3 billion in 2016. However, the revenue gap between the two air-conditioning services in the 2016 semi-annual report was only RMB 7.78 billion. It is worth noting that, in the 2015 semi-annual report, Midea's air-conditioning business was overtaking Gree air-conditioning. Fang Hongbo also previously stated that the air-conditioner industry's two major US and Gree formats have already been formed and nobody can surpass it.
The giant path is now delivered
One important reason for the intense competition between the two sides is that the scale of growth in the air-conditioning market is believed to have touched the ceiling. The United States and Gree also used different paths to compete in a variety of areas outside of the air conditioner.
Gree officially announced in July 2016 that it will enter a diversified era and be involved in smart equipment, mobile phones, and washing machines. Among them, independent research and development are highlighted by Gree. Dong Mingzhu emphasized at the Gree Intelligent Equipment Summit held in March this year that Gree’s robot equipments were from core components and ontology to system integration, all of which were independently developed and manufactured. The controversial Gree mobile phone is also Gree independent research and development and production.
In fact, Gree once hoped to enter the field of new energy vehicles by acquiring Zhuhai Yinlong, but the acquisition failed. At present, Dong Mingzhu has become the honorary chairman of Zhuhai Yinlong, and has become the second shareholder of Zhuhai Yinlong with a shareholding ratio of 17.46%. Dong Mingzhu once said in the shareholders’ meeting in May this year that holding Zhuhai Yinlong was forced and more standing in Gree’s growth perspective. She said at the time that if Yinlong Automotive Air Conditioning was purchased from Gree, it would bring 1 billion to 2 billion in revenue each year.
However, Gree, which was set up as a professional model, did not receive the same evaluation in the era of diversification. Taking Gree Mobile as an example, Dong Mingzhu once stated that Huawei will sell first in the mobile phone market and Gree will be the second in the mobile phone market. However, Gree’s newly-released mobile phone with a price of RMB 3,200, named Color World, sold only five units on the official website. It was recently interpreted by the outside world. Gree subsequently clarified that the sales volume of 5 units is the data when the mobile phone was just put up, and the sales volume is updated every day. As of press time, the sales data of Gree Mall's mobile phone is 5,260 units.
According to the 2016 financial report, Gree's air-conditioning revenue still accounted for 81.33% of total revenue, a decrease of 5.22% over the same period of the previous year. In contrast, the air-conditioning business accounted for only 41.99% of the overall US revenue in 2016.
The diversification of the United States has adopted more international mergers and acquisitions. Midea only made three overseas acquisitions in 2016. Not only for 27.2 billion yuan won the 94.55% shares of the German robot company KUKA, the United States also received about 3.32 billion yuan price, to get 80.1% of Toshiba's white-business shares. In addition, the United States also got an 80% stake in Italy's central air conditioning company Clivet that year.
Hong Shibin believes that Gree and Midea are equal in the field of air conditioning, and the competition in the entire industry chain is inferior to that of the United States. He told the Huaxia Times reporter: “The original professional positioning of Gree constrains one's own hands and feet and misses the best time. The first and second competition in the industry is a competition of comprehensive strength rather than relying solely on Longboard."
Plastic Tube Pressure Gauge,Plastic Pressure Gauge,Plastic Tube Manometer,Plastic Pipe Pressure Gauge
ZHOUSHAN JIAERLING METER CO.,LTD , https://www.zsjrlmeter.com