Chapter 3178 Group Procurement

"Huh?" Zhou Buqi looked at him in surprise, "Can you really save money?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "It's true. Many patent owners are small companies and do not have the strength to fight such cross-border lawsuits. For those infringements, they can only accept bad luck. Either they are some big companies who don't care about patents or disdain the patent fees. The company won’t come to ask for it, so this model can indeed save a lot of patent fees.”

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "It's really amazing."

Using Qualcomm's chips, Qualcomm has already taken care of everything. It has already been agreed on which patent fees will be bundled and paid, and mobile phone manufacturers only need to pay according to the conditions.

If you buy MediaTek chips or use self-developed chips, there are not so many conditions tied to patent fees.

There is an opportunity to sneak around patent fees.

Because coming to ask for patent fees is also a huge investment in operating costs, and many patent companies simply cannot afford this job. For example, domestic ZTE and Huawei also have many patents in their hands. In fact, they default to global technology companies for use.

Infringement is infringement.

There is simply no time or energy to go to companies one after another to ask for patent fees.

Door-to-door debt collection is also a skill, and not everyone can do it.

Zhou Shaoning said: "To ask for patent fees, this project is not simple at all. First, you have to buy back all the hardware products on the market, and then take them apart to conduct a series of complex technical analyses. Analyze what technologies and applications these products use Which patents have been infringed? Then we can judge whether these products really infringe on our own patents. This is too complicated. Many companies do not have this strength, and they do not even have an analysis team.”

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Yes, an analysis team requires at least a dozen people. But some small patent companies, with only a few people in total, simply cannot afford such a task."

Zhou Shaoning said: "So without using Qualcomm chips and without those binding conditions, mobile phone manufacturers will have more room to operate. Many domestic mobile phone manufacturers have begun to switch to MediaTek chips, not only because MediaTek chips are more powerful than Qualcomm’s chips are cheaper because MediaTek’s chips can bypass patents and save a lot of money on patents.”

Zhou Buqi analyzed: "Many small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers have very little income, so they will not be targeted by patent giants like Ericsson, right?"

Zhou Shaoning smiled and said: "Yes, not only in China, but also in Europe and the United States, there are not so many constraints on some small companies. Europe even has clear laws. The same thing, small companies can do it, but large companies cannot do it. "Small companies can moderate their efforts, while large companies are strictly regulated."

"Well, this will be the mainstream trend in Europe and the United States."

Zhou Buqi is very familiar with this.

This is especially true in the Internet industry.

For example, if you want to make a video product, if a large company's product contains pornographic, gambling, or drug content, you will be warned by the authorities to limit the audience. If these contents appear on the products of small companies, no one will care at all, and you can do whatever you like.

Large companies are strong, so they should be taken seriously; small companies are weak, so they have privileges.

Just like "Black Lives Matter", black people are disadvantaged, so they have privileges.

You can humiliate the president, but you cannot humiliate the cleaners; you can scold the hard-working business owners as greedy, but you cannot say that the dock workers who strike every day are mercenary.

Put it in the mobile phone industry.

That is, small companies can infringe their patents without paying patent fees. Industry giants like Asda have countless pairs of eyes staring at them. If they want to circumvent this restriction, there will be endless patent lawsuits.

The larger the company, the fewer patents it infringes, but the more patent lawsuits it has to deal with.

Industry giants like Samsung and Apple also have dozens or hundreds of patent lawsuits to deal with every year.

Zhou Buqi said: "The current situation in the country is that the more important people are, the more privileged they are, and the lower class of society are easier to be manipulated. Developed countries in Europe and the United States are gradually moving towards the opposite path."

Zhou Shaoning smiled and said: "Yes, so Ericsson is suing us and going to India. Because of Asda's strong connections in China, even if they sue, it will be difficult for them to succeed."

Zhou Buqi pondered and said: "No wonder Qualcomm has been playing a monopoly for so many years, but its position has become more and more stable. Qualcomm has formed an entire global interest alliance, and patent companies around the world are tied to Qualcomm. "Qualcomm's 'chip + patent' bundling sales strategy can help them collect patent fees at almost zero cost, so that manufacturers that use Qualcomm chips cannot avoid paying the patent fees."

Zhou Shaoning nodded, "From this perspective, Ericsson and Qualcomm are a community of interests, and they will cooperate with Qualcomm's needs."

Zhou Buqi felt a little strange, "Since Ericsson's patent fees should be paid, wouldn't it be enough to just pay them directly? Why delay?"

"This is the crux of the problem, the most troublesome part." Zhou Shaoning was helpless, "Because Qualcomm is a patent platform, they are a 'centralized procurement' party!"

"Ah? Centralized purchasing?"

"Yes, Qualcomm uses its own chip monopoly in the market as a backdrop to launch centralized purchases from patent manufacturers around the world. The price at which they purchase patents will be far lower than the market price."

"So that's it!"

Zhou Buqi suddenly realized.

Zhou Shaoning said: "In the past, we used Qualcomm chips, and the patent fee paid to Ericsson for each mobile phone was about US$2.5. Samsung and Apple are the same, and they basically have unified standards. If you don't use Qualcomm chips, talk to Ericsson separately. , then the price is too high.”

Zhou Buqi took a deep breath, "Qualcomm's move is cruel!"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Yes, Qualcomm's centralized procurement strategy has gathered strength from all over the world for Qualcomm. Whether it is MediaTek's chips or self-developed chips from manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, and Asda, in fact, against It’s not Qualcomm, not the United States. In fact, it’s going against the world’s industrial system.”

Zhou Buqi asked: "You didn't know this before?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Even if you know a little bit and don't really get involved, it's hard to feel the plight of the industry. Qualcomm has built a strong moat. It might be interesting to watch the fire from the other side, but you can only feel it if you are in the fire. To the terror of raging fire.”

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "You are quite literary."

Zhou Shaoning said helplessly: "The current situation is very difficult. Qualcomm relies on this trick, so if we want to continue to develop mobile phone models with MediaTek and self-developed chips, we will encounter serious development difficulties. Related Mobile phones are not even allowed to enter the Indian market, and India will only be the beginning, and it is likely to penetrate into more countries in Southeast Asia.”