The Wuhan branch of China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) and Douyu TV won as Hubei province’s top two patent applications.

Wuhan CSOT branch introduced China’s first sixth-generation LTPS (low temperature poly-silicon) display panel production lines. It broke into the international block through independent research and development in producing high-end small and medium size displays. 

Douyu TV is China’s largest live-streaming content platform and is Hubei province’s only internet company valued at over $1 billion.

Both companies were established in 2014 and ranked as Hubei province’s top two in patent quantities in less than just three years. Before the production in 2015, CSOT had already demonstrated 620 patents. Upon production in 2016, it applied for more than 1,000 patents. In 2016, Douyu TV was on the list for the first time and showed 600 patents including over 500 invention patents.

Officers from the intellectual property office of Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone believe patents are key weapons in making the two companies stand out in intense competition. 

Patent wars are actually market wars

One Wuhan CSOT intellectual property officer said that the market explains why it has so many patents. Shenzhen CSOT, the parent company of Wuhan CSOT, faced technology blockades and price pressures when first tackling display panels in 2009. Many top international manufacturers used high-end technology to constrain Chinese companies, thus Chinese companies had to purchase patents from industrial heads at high costs when planning to produce high-end products. 

Lawsuits, particularly US patent lawsuits, are common in the LCD panel industry, and often involve high compensations. Wuhan CSOT therefore had to build its own intellectual property defense system before mass production; now, once a new finding is made, it will immediately apply for patent protection.

Over the past two years, live-streaming has become one of the most popular uses of the mobile internet, primarily represented by Douyu.com, Huya.com, Huajiao.com and Inke.cn. Qin Bo, the law department patent manager, said, “Although many people think that Douyu TV is just a content platform, all the content presented in the platform actually needs technological support including big data exploration and application, live-streaming technology chain optimization, interactive entertainment and typed comment (danmu in Chinese) interaction.” Currently, patent applications regarding danmu have surpassed 50. 

Unique technology advantages play a key part when establishing and expanding internet companies. Furthermore, should technology be plagiarized by other companies, the technology will be rendered ineffective. 

KPI performance and innovation rewards encourage engineers to apply for more patents

At present, Douyu TV has more than 1,400 employees, 550 of which are research staff with nearly 180 people from Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba. Wuhan CSOT has more than 1,000 research staff among 4,600 employees. 

To encourage innovation, both companies have set up a patent reward mechanism. Douyu TV will reward the researcher 2,000 yuan when he applies for a patent and another 3,000 yuan when the patent is approved. The company has spent over one million yuan ($145,376) on rewards. In CSOT, two to three patent applications every year are listed in the KPT performance of research staff. Similar to Douyu, research staff can get differentiated rewards in different stages and the company spent more than three million yuan on the rewards in 2016. As a result, patent applications increased by 70 percent.

Intellectual property service industries gather in Optics Valley

An officer of Optics Valley Intellectual Property Office said that many companies placed little emphasis on using legal tools to protect intellectual property, resulting in bad mistakes in the past. Now amidst global competition, leading companies like Apple and Samsung all use patents to compete and constrain each other.

The National Concentrated Development Trial Zone of Intellectual Property Service was officially launched in 2016. In addition, CSOT and Douyu TV set good examples for new economy and high-tech companies in patents. Currently, over 30 patent agencies have settled in the Optics Valley. A property eco-system is also taking shape, including patent examination offices and an intellectual property court.