There are more than 120,000 patents in the field of LED patents. The core patents are mainly in the hands of foreign companies. Chinese companies lag behind foreign companies in technology and patents. Taking the LED front-end as an example, more than 350 of the 470 extended patents authorized by China are applied for by foreign companies. The domestic enterprises apply for only about 110 applications, and some of them are utility model patents. About 70% of the domestic licensed chip patents are in the hands of foreign companies, and domestic companies only account for 30%. Insufficient accumulation of patent technology has made the domestic LED industry face a series of problems such as how to carry out patent defense and avoid patent risks.
White LED has caused the third revolution in the field of lighting due to its high efficiency, energy saving and environmental protection. At present, the LED field has formed a leading position in five major factories, followed by South Korean and Chinese Taiwanese companies, and Chinese enterprises gather in the middle and lower reaches of the industry. The usual implementation of white light can be divided into single crystal type and polycrystalline type. In any case, the chip is indispensable, so the intellectual property of the LED chip is very important. At the same time, since the current mainstream white light implementation scheme is mostly implemented by chip plus phosphor, the white LED intellectual property is mainly concentrated on the chip and phosphor.
First, the intellectual property profile of white LED chips
Manufacturing a white LED chip mainly includes a substrate, a buffer layer, an epitaxy (functional layer, especially a light-emitting region), chip fabrication, electrodes, and the like. The mainstream substrate materials are sapphire and silicon carbide, the sapphire substrate technology was developed by Nichia Chemical, and the silicon carbide substrate technology was developed by Cree. Nichia's sapphire substrate patents include JP2632239 (92.06) and JP2795294 (93.04). These patents are basically only applied for in Japan, and have not been applied for in other countries and regions. From the Japanese sapphire substrate patent layout, the use of sapphire as a substrate outside of Japan does not constitute infringement. The core US5631190 of Cree's silicon carbide substrate technology is licensed by the same family in China, so the risk of infringement using silicon carbide substrates is extremely high. At present, the development of silicon substrate technology has been valued by major enterprises. There are certain patents accumulated in this technology in China. The development of this technology has certain significance for domestic enterprises to avoid intellectual property risks.
The buffer layer material generally has an AlN buffer layer, a GaN buffer layer, and a SiNx buffer layer, and the corresponding core patents are JP2000124499, JP7312350, and EP1111663, respectively. The first two materials are only patented in Japan, and the latter are in Japan, the United States, and the like. Europe, South Korea, and Taiwan have patent protection, but there is no family patent in mainland China. Others such as multi-buffer layer technology have patent protection in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia, and there is no family patent in China; superlattice blocking dislocation technology has patent protection in the United States and Japan, and there is no family patent in China; There are patent protections in the United States, Europe and Japan, and there are no patents in the same family in China. It is worth noting that the lateral epitaxial overgrowth technology has the same family patent authorization in China. Therefore, in terms of buffer layer materials, the Chinese market uses the above materials as the buffer layer patent risk. The main buffer layer technology has not applied for a patent in China, so the intellectual property risk in this technology field is not large.
In the core of the illuminating zone in the epitaxial functional layer, except for the square single quantum well EP1189289 of Nichia, the non-doped carrier confinement layer of Cree has the same patent authorization in China, and other common double heterojunctions. Quantum wells, square multiple quantum wells, trapezoidal quantum wells, triangular quantum wells, and asymmetric quantum wells, with a buffer layer between the active layer and the p-type layer, and a multi-quantum barrier (MQB) as a carrier confinement layer are not patented. Apply for a family patent in China. In terms of extension, domestic enterprises will face certain intellectual property issues, but because there are more alternatives, the problem is not big. As long as attention is avoided, this should be avoided.
Chip manufacturing is one of the most serious areas of intellectual property problems faced by domestic companies. The international LED core manufacturing patents, such as US5631190 and other companies of Osram's US2002017652, have the same family patents in China. The use of these patents is extremely risky. Other core patents such as US6538302 do not have the same family application in China, and the use of these patented technologies is not a high risk. Other core patents that do not apply for the same family in China include WO03026029 and US2003015708. Therefore, in the field of chip manufacturing, domestic LED chip manufacturers will face large patent risks. Domestic enterprises should do a good job in patent early warning analysis in this field, and do corresponding evasion design to avoid patent infringement.
In terms of electrodes, Japanese companies have obtained more patents earlier, and Nichia's core patent EP0622858 has a patent application for the same family in China. The family of the patent has formed a huge family of nine divided patents in China. In terms of electrodes and ohmic contact materials, Nichia has formed a very effective protection ring, which will be infringed by domestic companies. Another Japanese company that has more patented technologies in this area, Toyota Synthetic Patent Group JP10135515 and Lumileds' US6526082 have no family in China. Therefore, domestic enterprises should make full use of the above technologies without family patents in China to form effective evasion. . There is a certain patent risk in the electrode, but as long as attention is avoided, the patent problem is not big.
The domestic LED chip intellectual property risk is concentrated in the chip manufacturing aspect. Others such as substrate, buffer layer, epitaxy, electrode, etc., because the international core patent has not applied for the same family in China, or the alternative patent has not applied for the same family in China, the patent risk is relatively high. small.
Second, the intellectual property profile of white LED phosphor
In general, the patented technology of white LED phosphors is mainly in the hands of some major foreign companies such as Nichia and Toyota Synthetic. At present, there are only a few phosphor companies in China that have researched rare earths, and a few of Jiangsu Bo can provide patent-protected phosphors.
The superior invention patents of the early popular phosphors such as YAG powder and LuAG powder are owned by Japan Nichia Chemical Co., Ltd., patent number: US5998925, priority date: July 29, 1996. The patent for TAG powder is owned by Osram, Germany, patent number: US6669866, priority date: July 23, 1999. The above patents for phosphors will not expire until 2017.
There are also patent problems with silicate phosphors, etc. The earliest patent for orthosilicate phosphors was applied to US Patent US6429583 on November 30, 1998. Subsequently, Osram of Germany applied for the SrBaSiO4:Eu2+ patent, US Patent No.: US7064480, and the priority date was July 28, 2000. Then, the German Braytongen Fluorescent Lamp Factory, Japan Toyota Synthetic and Austrian Tridonic applied for the patent for orthosilicate phosphors containing Sr, Ba and Ca. US Patent No.: US6809347, priority date is December 28, 2000 . The patent for Sr3SiO5:Eu2+ was first seen in the patent applied by Korea Chemical Industry Research Institute, US Patent No.: US7045826, and the priority date is March 28, 2003. The above silicate phosphors will expire after 2018. . At present, several major silicate phosphor companies have established the BOSE patent family.
Nitride and oxynitride phosphors are currently hotspots. The earliest patent for nitride phosphors was the European patent EP1104799 filed by Osram on November 30, 1999. Subsequently, the National Institute of Materials Science of Japan applied for the Sialon phosphor patent, the US patent number is US6632379, and the priority date is June 7, 2001. Subsequently, Osram Germany applied for the MSi2O2N2:Eu2+ (M=Ca,Sr,Ba) patent on September 24, 2002, the patent number is EP1413618. On February 27, 2004, Japan Tonghe Mining (DOWA) applied for CaAlSiN3. : The patent of Eu2+ phosphor, patent number: JP2005239985, domestic enterprises lag behind foreign companies in the research of nitride and NOx phosphors.
Third, white LED LED intellectual property issues should be recommended
There are several options for domestic white LED application companies to avoid patent risks: first, purchase white LEDs with patent protection; second, purchase non-brand white LEDs, and obtain patent licenses; third, white LED application companies increase technology research and development. White LED patent license. In the white LED field patents, most of the core patents are currently in the hands of foreign companies, but a considerable number of core patents have not been applied in China, and it is worthy of serious research by domestic companies in the market. The patents of domestic white LED companies have a certain foundation, and it is necessary to authorize and introduce new patents to achieve higher practical value. Therefore, it is necessary to actively carry out patent operations and rationally regulate the market order, in order to fundamentally maintain the stable, orderly and healthy development of the entire white LED. To this end, we make the following recommendations:
1. For industry safety, it is recommended that the relevant competent authorities or industry alliances, through special or work arrangements, establish a patent subject database on one hand, monitor the status of LED patent laws at home and abroad, and entrust a third-party professional intellectual property institution to evaluate and conduct domestic The feasibility analysis of the external LED patent operation guides the engineering center and the enterprise to develop technology research and development.
2. For brand enterprises in the domestic white LED industry, it is imperative to analyze the patent layout as soon as possible to form a patent portfolio and reduce risks. In addition to choosing the same reasonable licensing conditions as SMEs, it is also possible to build a more valuable patent pool portfolio based on its own superior patents under the guidance of professional patent operators. This combination of patent pools not only protects itself, but also gains economic benefits or obtains much-needed technical authorization through external or cross-authorization.
3. For international white LED companies, if they have many core patents, if they are authorized externally, because of the small size and large number of LED companies in China, it is unthinkable for a family to go to the enterprise to conduct authorization negotiations. The best way is to find a professional patent operation company, and entrust the relevant authorization and perennial management matters to the relevant enterprises to complete. (Editor: Zijing)
æ–‡\å¾æ¥é™†Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Property Trading Center
The FirstPower CFPS(2V) and LFPS(6V/12V) series stationary batteries (Opzs Battery) are the newly products which were developed at the end of 2005.
The performances meet the standard DIN40736 and IEC60896-21. tubularPositive plate can prevent the active material from falling off. The grid of positive plate is Pb-Sb multi-alloy
The design life is more than 20 years
Ensuring sufficient electrolyte for battery discharge
Industrial Opzs Battery,Industrial Stationary Opzs Battery,Industrial 2V Opzs Battery
Firstpower Tech. Co., Ltd. , https://www.firstpowersales.com