[expiration of 20-year patent for USB flash disk] on the evening of November 14, Longke Technology (300042. SZ) announced that the application date of the company's core basic invention patent 'flash electronic external storage method and device for data processing system' (Patent No.: zl99117225.6, '99 patent') was November 14, 1999. According to Article 42 of the patent law of the people's Republic of China, "the term of the patent right for invention is 20 years, and the term of the patent right for utility model and design is 10 years, both calculated from the application date", the expiration and termination date of the patent right of the company's 99 patent is November 14, 2019.
Patent name: flash electronic external storage method and its device for data processing system; Patent introduction: as one of the earliest companies involved in the field of flash memory application and mobile storage at home and abroad, through continuous technological innovation, the company took the lead in launching a mobile storage product - flash disk based on USB or IEEE1394 interface and using flash memory as storage medium, And applied for a series of original basic invention patents and other core patents in China, such as No. zl99117225.6 Chinese invention patent 'flash electronic external storage method and device for data processing system'. This series of patents are China's original basic invention patents and core patents in the field of flash memory application and mobile storage, filling the gap that there has been no core patent in the field of flash memory application and mobile storage in China for 20 years. Through continuous technological innovation, the company has also developed a series of other core technologies and patents in the field of flash memory applications and mobile storage, forming a complete patent layout and 'patent pool'.
The expiration and termination date of the patent right of the company's 99 patent is November 14, 2019. The company's patent operation business forms a significant dependence on the 99 patent, and the expiration of the patent will have a certain adverse impact on the company's future operating profits. At present, the company has no effective measures to fundamentally solve the risks caused to the company's operation after the expiration of the patent. Moreover, the company's patents are mainly concentrated in the field of traditional mobile storage such as flash memory, which is increasingly being accelerated and replaced by cloud storage and mobile Internet. The company's main patented technologies are facing the systematic risk of being replaced by new technologies.
Based on core patents, the company has distributed a large number of patents around the field of mobile storage around the world, forming a 'patent pool', so that relevant products are protected by multiple patents at the same time. When negotiating with some key rights protection objectives, the company first considers taking the 'patent pool' rather than a single patent as the subject of licensing. Secondly, when the company authorizes patents, it also considers to authorize products by purchasing products from the company, changing the traditional patent authorization mode to product side business cooperation, so as to reduce its dependence on patents. In addition, the company is trying to tap the potential of existing patents and strive to maximize the value of existing patents. The company can also consider introducing some high-quality patents, patent applications or technical ideas through a third party to optimize the structure of the patent pool and enrich the categories of rights protection products. The company is actively carrying out intellectual property rights protection cooperation with third-party institutions at home and abroad by using its accumulated intellectual property operation experience for many years, and strive to realize the sustainable development of intellectual property operation business.
After the expiration of 99 patent, it has no impact on the company's existing patent infringement litigation, nor does it affect the company's right to investigate legal liability for the infringement before the expiration of 99 patent within the legal period.