The market prospect of dishwashers is promising. While attracting many domestic enterprises to set foot in one after another, it has increasingly become a frequent place for intellectual property disputes in the field of home appliances. Before "AWE Mi Yun Dishwasher was dismantled" and later "Zhongshan Fangtai Electric Appliance was convicted of infringing the patent right of Tai Fang sink dishwasher", the existing Midea once again defended its rights and sued Foshan Baishi, the dishwasher foundry, and the court awarded compensation of 3 million yuan.
According to the IPRdaily reporter, Foshan Shunde Midea Washing Appliance Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Midea") v. Foshan Best Electric Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Foshan Best") and "Dishwasher" series of patent litigation cases recently ushered in the court's first-instance judgment. Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court ordered the defendant Foshan Baishi to immediately stop manufacturing, selling and promising to sell three products infringing on Midea's dishwasher patent rights, such as ZL20 1420204325.7, immediately destroy the infringing products in stock and the equipment and molds specially used for manufacturing infringing products, and compensate Midea for each patent involved 1 10,000 yuan, * * 3 million yuan.
According to the court judgment, Midea sued Foshan Baishi Electric in Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court in early 20 18 for three patent infringement cases, involving technical points such as dishwasher plus heat pump, pedestal and motor. 2065438+June 2008, our court held a public hearing. At the hearing, Foshan Baishi argued that it used existing technology and proposed that the patent filed with the Patent Reexamination Board of the State Intellectual Property Office was invalid. Midea claims that three patents, such as ZL20 1420204325.7, are the key technologies of its dishwasher base system, and claims that it has been continuously researched and developed for many years, invested more than 20 million in research and development expenses, and conducted more than 100 tests, which is the first in China, and applied for more than 40 patents for this system. Based on this, the IPRdaily reporter learned from the public website information that Foshan Baishi did file a patent invalidation declaration against patent ZL2019 on February 20 and 20 18 on June 22, respectively, but the Patent Reexamination Board of the State Intellectual Property Office made a declaration. At the same time, the court ruled that Foshan Best constituted patent infringement.
The reporter learned from the inquiry materials that this case should be the first case of Midea's rights protection in the field of dishwashers, and it is also the first case of taking the initiative to defend rights through court proceedings. Prior to this, the patent dispute between Midea and Mi Yun Dishwasher started from AWE, which also attracted wide attention.
According to the national enterprise credit information system, Foshan Best Electric Technology Co., Ltd. was established in May 2065438+2005. Hemei is a local enterprise in Foshan, mainly engaged in the manufacture, sales and promised sales of household appliances. However, it is understood that Foshan Baishi sells fewer dishwashers in the market with its own brand, mainly by OEM. At present, the domestic dishwasher industry is developing rapidly, and many dishwashers have appeared in the market. Where there is a market, there is competition. The state and governments at all levels are advocating and strengthening a fair, just and excellent business environment, and strong intellectual property protection is also a very important part. In the past, some processing plants were unfamiliar with intellectual property rights, so they ignored the consequences of infringing intellectual property rights and broke the law without knowing the law. At present, the state is cracking down on the punishment for infringement of intellectual property rights more and more severely. I believe that more processing plants will attach importance to intellectual property rights, and those that blindly rely on counterfeit and infringing brand products will gradually be eliminated by the market.
China dishwasher market has great potential. International dishwasher enterprises are pursuing localization to adapt to the development of China market, such as sink dishwashers in Tai Fang. Midea has been engaged in the research and development of dishwashers 19 years, and has been committed to developing "easy-to-use Chinese dishwashers" for families in China, and has been constantly innovating and upgrading products, and strengthening the layout and protection of patents. According to the statistics of patent database of China National Intellectual Property Administration website, by the end of 20 18 and 10, Midea Electric's total patent disclosure in the domestic household dishwasher field was 1829, ranking first in the domestic dishwasher R&D and manufacturing field, and its patent authorization was far ahead.
At the same time, Midea's products have spread all over the world on six continents, covering Europe, America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and other countries and regions. Midea is also gradually strengthening the overseas patent layout of dishwasher technology. According to statistics, up to now, there are 64 PCT applications, 26 national invention PCT applications and 43 design applications.