Chapter 1000: Too good performance will make you feel a headache

ESS acquired Goodfeller and took Jeff Goodfeller himself to his subordinates. In the past month, he sorted out the existing technical information and R&D records of Jeff Goodfeller, and confirmed that many patents in the field of mobile email technology were actually obtained before the registration of NTP and Visto.

Kumho can submit relevant information to the US Patent Office through the fully controlled Goodfeller, asking the US Patent Office to declare the relevant patents owned by NTP and Visto, the two companies, invalid. However, this practice is not in line with Kumho's interests. Instead, it requests negotiations to NTP and Visto, requiring that in terms of relevant patents, Goodfeller should obtain authorization of the same rights as the two companies for free.

Since Goodfeller was able to propose detailed and effective recording materials and had the ability to develop new technical solutions through the new R&D team led by Jeff Goodfeller to circumvent existing basic patents, after negotiations, NTP and Visto quickly reached a settlement agreement with ESS, and Jeff Goodfeller paid 10 million US dollars to the two companies to obtain in-depth authorization of twelve basic patents.

At that time, there were only 32 basic patents registered in the field of mobile email technology registered by the US Patent Office. Kumho held in-depth authorization of twelve of the patents, which means that Kumho held complete rights to the patents derived from these twelve basic patents.

Zhang Ke thought that even if their mobile email business in the North American market was not going well, after RIM's BlackBerry was successful, he could follow NTP and Visto to bite RIM and take out 10 million US dollars, and he would not suffer any loss.

At the same time, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) formally accused Kumho of its IPlayer business in the Eastern District Court of Feiginia for intentionally improper encryption technology that prompted users to download music free of charge on the Internet for a large amount of free download of music, requesting that Kumho be banned from selling IPlayers in the United States and compensated $53.7 million.

Kumho, in the name of Ida Group, asked the court to reject the lawsuit of the American Recording Industry Association through a North American company, declaring that it could not oppose technological progress under the pretext of protecting intellectual property rights, and asked the American Recording Industry Association to attach importance to the examination of the positive significance of DMP-ilayer technology in promoting the dissemination of audio-visual audio works through the Internet.

Although Chinese companies are often sued for patent infringement and intellectual copyright in the United States, the amount of claims is so huge, which is extremely rare. What surprised the American media and the public even more. Chinese companies are sued in the United States, and almost no companies will stand up to respond. This is mainly because the domestic companies have not participated in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade by 1999, and domestic companies have not had a deep understanding of intellectual property rights, nor have they had the experience of internationally fighting intellectual property lawsuits. There are only companies like Kumho who responded high-profilely and even asked plaintiffs to reflect, which immediately caused a great response in the American media and the public.

Before responding to the lawsuit, Kumho senior executives were able to realize that the lawsuit would be beneficial to expanding Ida's brand impact in North America, but there was no accurate prediction of what extent it could reach.

I only realized before that Scooper, Toshiba, Samsung, and other companies selling IPlayers in North America, as well as Deyi (the joint venture between Deyi and Kumho masters the core hardware architecture technology of IPlayers) would not want Kumho to lose this lawsuit.

In fact, the knowledge copyright dispute caused by the American Recording Industry Association's lawsuit against Ida happens to be the focus of the conflict between traditional audio and video audio manufacturers and Internet content manufacturers. Traditional audio and video audio manufacturers hope to adopt stricter legal measures on knowledge copyright to eliminate piracy and infringement, while Internet content manufacturers hope to have a more relaxed legal environment to promote the development of the Internet industry. If the court supports severe restrictions on the behavior of equipment providers or technology suppliers, it can almost be said to be a disaster for the Internet industry.

The federal district court has typical significance for Kumho's infringement judgment. On the Internet content websites in North America, a large number of voices supporting Kumho have emerged almost inclinedly.

Before the lawsuit, the United States knew that DMP-iplayer and Ida Group had a very limited population, which was exactly the same as Zhang Ke expected. After the American Recording Industry Association filed a lawsuit, after the US media reported that Kumho's sales in North America surged 130% that month, tying Scooper's sales, and also prompted the shipment of IPlayers in North America to exceed 260,000 pieces in February, just one step away from surpassing MD players in North America.

For Kumho, it is enough to not lose too badly in this lawsuit.

In February, North America generated $4 million in profits due to a surge in sales, which was also the first month of profit after the launch of the IPlayer product.

In addition, the joint venture between Kumho and Deyi controls the core hardware architecture technology of DMP-iplayer, and Kumho also holds other important software and hardware architecture technologies besides flash memory. In these fields, almost every IPlayer manufacturer has to give Kumho a fuck. In February, Kumho's acquisitions in these fields also reached 4 million US dollars.

This also officially means that IPlayer has become the third major business of Aida Group in addition to DVD players and mobile phones.

In March, it was still early spring weather in Jianye. At noon, Chunyang and Xi were comfortable sitting in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, but the report on his knees made Zhang Ke feel extremely troubled.

"It can no longer be reduced," Chen Xinsheng sat opposite Zhang Ke. "In 1998, 15 million mobile phones were sold in China, and our market share was 14%. The sales of 2 million mobile phones in the domestic market alone were close to 9 billion yuan. It seems that it is difficult for Aida's annual sales to be less than 10 billion yuan... In addition, the Ministry of Information Industry will collect tax and other data, and these data are not something we can delete at will."

"How much data can Huaxia Electronics do?" Zhang Ke looked up at Chen Xinsheng. The country has to rank the top 100 in the electronics industry every year. Ida Group suddenly jumped into the top three from more than 40 last year, which seemed a bit too dazzling.

"Huaxia Electronics cannot learn from us. Their sales in 1998 can be about 20 billion, which is a bit higher than us," Chen Xinsheng said. "In addition, we will transfer more profits to the components department, and the data will be better."

The gross profit of Kumho's mobile phone business exceeds 40%. Since most of its companies are still in the tax and fee reduction period, the tax burden is lighter and the net profit is also more than 30%. Huaxia Electronics' mobile phone business net profit is only one-third of Kumho. If the data is not changed, it will touch the nerves of some officials of the ministries and commissions.

Zhang Ke nodded and said, "It's better to put it on the component department. Now it seems that it's not a problem of whether to cover it up or not. If you can make the data better this year, it will still be a headache next year--"

"Others still envy you for your headache," Chen Xinsheng said with a smile. "In 1998, the total number of mobile users increased by 11 million. This year, with China Unicom's competition, and the Chinese text message business will gradually develop. The huge card purchase fee, which is inappropriate, will be cut directly, and the communication fee will also drop significantly. I think the total number of mobile users will be doubled on this basis. The domestic mobile phone sales volume will exceed 30 million units. Our goal is to maintain the fourth place and strive for the third place to achieve this goal. Our domestic mobile phone sales in 1999 will reach 4 million units, and the sales volume is almost 15 billion. This year, we can barely miss the third place, and we will definitely enter the third place next year..."

"It is also good to slow down for a year. For some officials, it is also a process of acceptance. At least as far as I know, Geng Chongyang is a stubborn state-owned monopoly. Our glory is too swaggering, and he will subconsciously put some pressure on us." Zhang Ke smiled, stood up and returned the report to Chen Xinsheng.

The second 29-person meeting will be held in the next two days, and the annual financial data of various companies under Kumho are also released one after another. When Kumho Commercial has not even completed its initial layout, Ida Group, as one of the two core cores of the Kumho system, naturally has to take the lead. The net profit in 1998 was close to 4 billion yuan.

Nearly two years ago, Kumho's backdoor listing came to 4 billion from the Hong Kong securities market, which was already shocking. At this time, Ida Group's profit was only one year, and the profits generated by the entire complex Kumho system were even more amazing. Ida Electronics has entered a stable profit period, and Shengxin Electrical Appliances, Xinguang Paper, Xiangxuehai and other companies have all entered the track of rapid development.

Speaking of Xiangxuehai, Zhang Ke will go to Huishan once in the near future. Xiangxuehai still has about 24% of the shares held by Huishan Light Industry Bureau on behalf of Huishan Municipal Government. Only by straightening out Xiangxuehai's equity relationship can it be successfully traded and listed on the Hong Kong securities market in the future.

In early 1996, the equity held by Huishan City Light Industry Bureau was worth 300 million yuan. In 1997, Jinhu once again invested capital in Xiangxuehai through Yuexiu, and the equity held by Huishan City Light Industry Bureau increased to 400 million yuan. In 1998, Xiangxuehai's performance increased nearly twice on the basis of 1997 by the CCTV bidding king. The value of the equity held by Huishan City Light Industry Bureau naturally rose again. The price of 800 million yuan has been negotiated. In addition to the profit share of the past period of time, the Huishan Municipal Government also took away 900 million yuan from Xiangxuehai, which was four times the price of HG Samsung Group. When the contract was officially signed, Zhang Ke still had to go to Huishan in person and meet Zhao Yang for the second time.
Chapter completed!