Rebirth of the Wild Age

The capital research and development center of China Science and Technology has moved into a newly renovated office building.

Since last year, office buildings have been continuously completed in Zhongguancun, and real estate has become one of the most profitable industries in Zhongguancun.

Song Weiyang first visited the eda laboratory that had just been built but had not yet been officially put into use.

As a result, as soon as I walked in, I saw several researchers playing a game of minesweeping. Liu Qiang, who accompanied the visit, suddenly became so dark that ink dripped out.

Liu Qiang is no longer involved in specific research and development work, and is mainly responsible for project-level control. He does nothing, but he needs to check everything.

Ahem, Liu Qiang coughed twice, The chairman is here to visit everyone. Also, turn off the game and play minesweeping during work hours, how decent!

Hello, Chairman!

The researchers got up to greet him one after another, and then stared straight at Song Weiyang, obviously very curious about their chairman.

The on-duty supervisor of the laboratory today is a young man with pimples all over his face. He quickly explained: The eda laboratory is doing the final test, and the test will take some time, so everyone can play minesweeper and relax. If the chairman and Mr. Liu have Opinion, then we will not play in the future.

Song Weiyang said with a smile: It's okay, work and rest, as long as the normal work is not delayed. They are all young people, I understand.

Long live the chairman!

A large group of technical geeks immediately cheered, feeling that their chairman was very kind, and then came to chat with Song Weiyang with a smile.

After staying in the eda laboratory for a while, Song Weiyang visited other project teams, and finally returned to the office. He shared his thoughts on developing the USB flash drive and asked, Is it technically difficult?

Liu Qiang suddenly became excited: Of course it's not difficult. The usb interface technology is ready-made, and the flash memory technology is also ready-made. We only need to develop a docking communication control program under the usb interface technology file and the flash memory interface technology file. This is a genius. The idea, with this kind of mobile flash drive, can greatly facilitate the mobile storage of data, and it can become popular all over the world! Chairman, who came up with this idea?

Song Weiyang said: I felt that floppy disks were inconvenient to use, so I wanted to make a more convenient storage.

The chairman is the chairman, you can think of all this. Liu Qiang flattered him with a smile.

Song Weiyang said: You said just now that there are both usb interface patents and flash memory technology patents, so what other patents can we apply for?

Liu Qiang said: It's the patent of this kind of usb memory.

That is, a patent that is not too difficult? Song Weiyang asked.

It's not difficult, I guess it will be done within a month by calling a few technicians, Liu Qiang said happily, The key to this patent is not the technical difficulty, but the idea, which is equivalent to piercing a layer of window paper!

Okay, we have to fight the patent lawsuit in the future. Song Weiyang said speechlessly.

Historically, the company that invented the USB flash drive was Shencheng Netac. When several foreign companies competed for patents, Netac was successively recognized by the Chinese and US Patent Offices, and its inventor status is beyond doubt.

There is a joke in the industry about Netac, saying that the company started with patent research and development, and survived with patent lawsuits.

Until 2018, few people used USB flash drives, and sellers in Huaqiangbei could only earn 1 yuan for selling USB flash drives. However, Netac's U-disk-related patent income this year is still more than 36 million, while its annual profit is only more than 60 million, and U-disk patents account for more than half of the company's annual profit.

Anyway, as long as there is no money to use, Netac will find someone to file a patent lawsuit, and they can always get a sum of money to make ends meet (the Japanese sued Sony, the United States and the US, and the patent lawsuits were won).

It is a pity that this company used to have a great position in China's high-tech industry, but until 2018, it was still living on the patent capital at the end of 1999. Moreover, the U disk patent will expire at the end of 2019. It is estimated that Netac will die miserably without patent income.

Ranko died of internal friction.

Entrepreneurs can also work together before going public. After listing, contradictions erupted instantly.

In the four years after Netac's listing, a total of 76 board of directors' proposals were opposed or abstained, and 14 shareholders' general meeting proposals were opposed or abstained, which is very rare in A shares.

The two inventors of the USB flash drive were once close friends, and they disrupted each other after the company went public. You oppose me, I oppose you, the work can't be carried out at all, and you can only live on your laurels until you die. They had sufficient funds at that time. As long as they found suitable projects, they could occupy a place in China's technology industry.

After Song Weiyang understood the technical difficulty of the USB flash drive, he immediately decided to do two things: apply for a technical patent as soon as possible, and immediately set up the company's legal department.

For such a popular product without technical barriers, there will definitely be countless follow-up manufacturers. And no matter domestic or foreign, they will not take the initiative to give you patent fees, you have to sue one by one. If manufacturers all over the world were very self-conscious, Netac, which owns the U-disk patent, would have already been lying down and counting money.

Song Weiyang suddenly asked again: Do you need a chip to make this kind of flash drive?

Liu Qiang nodded and said, A chip is indeed needed.

Song Weiyang immediately had an idea: We develop the chip ourselves, and then use this chip and other components to make the movement. The main business in the future will be the movement.

Why don't you make your own USB flash drive? Liu Qiang asked puzzled.

Song Weiyang said: Of course we have to make our own USB flash drive. Well, this thing is called a USB flash drive. However, there must be many counterfeit manufacturers in China. It is too troublesome to go to court one by one. Why don't we make the movement and sell it? Do assembly for them, and directly control their supply and scale. Of course, lawsuits must be filed, and those who don’t want to pay patent fees will sue! You develop the technology as soon as possible, and we will apply for patents as quickly as possible.”

No problem, there will definitely be results in one month! Liu Qiang promised.

In fact, applying for a patent also takes time.

Netac was successfully developed in the summer of 1999, and immediately went to apply for a patent. It was not approved by the China Intellectual Property Office until 2002, and it was not approved by the US Patent Office until 2004. The five-year international patent blank period has caused Netac to suffer heavy losses. It can only settle accounts with a few of the largest foreign companies, and most of the infringing manufacturers have escaped justice.

Song Weiyang's idea is to make the movement, make it himself and sell it to domestic manufacturers, and ask Wanwan to sell it to overseas manufacturers. Leaving aside the matter of patent fees, once the patent application in China is completed, we will immediately start to collect the payment. If there is no money, the stock will be out of stock, at least it will make the unruly guy's business chaotic for a while.

This is a very practical idea, because Shenzhou Technology is the first company in the world to make USB flash drives, and the manufacturing costs of movements in mainland China and Wanwan are very low. How domestic and foreign manufacturers make USB flash drives, they must first place an order with Shenzhou Technology, which can save a lot of cost.

After developing some domestic and foreign manufacturers into partners, they can even charge less or no patent fees, and then contact the cooperative manufacturers to sue competitors for infringement.

Those who gain the way will help more, but those who lose the way will not help much.

The way of doing business is profit.

At that time, China Technology will not be fighting alone, but there will be cooperative manufacturers who will take the initiative to help with the lawsuit-for them, the more competitors die, the better.

Of course, the premise is to obtain the patent as soon as possible.

In China, Academician Ni is still very well connected, and Song Weiyang can also spend money to ask other people to help. In the case of not violating the regulations, the patent review time will definitely be greatly reduced, at least it will not be delayed for three years like Netac.

And in the United States, aren't there many Wall Street venture capital firms who want to invest in Google?

The time for negotiation has come, so let's add another condition, asking them to help urge the US Patent Office.

This is the way to do business. Netac has worked too hard, and the stupid families have to go to court. It will take until the year of the monkey.