The Rebirth of the Male God Starts From Playing Games

  Chapter 339 336.Patent Negotiations

  This time Phil Schiller brought a team of almost 15 people over.

  In addition to Apple’s own patent team, there are also many legal staff and local legal and translators in China.

  Of course, there are many team members on Bomi's side. In addition to Cao Yang and Liu Zhiping and the general manager of Bomi Mobile Liu Qiang attended the meeting, there are also the entire patent team and Bomi’s own legal team.

  Bomi also has translators himself.

In fact, even if there is no need for translators, Cao Yang's English level is sufficient for him to communicate with the other party. It is not easy to do patent translation, especially the translation of computer proper nouns. The related professional vocabulary is very large and it is difficult to explain clearly, so the translation requirements Very high.

  Why do you need translation? Because this is basically a routine practice of large companies in formal negotiations, it is similar to the negotiations between the bigwigs of the two countries at the diplomatic table. Chinese diplomats can also understand each other’s language. If the young boss can correct the translation, the use of translation is a kind of social etiquette on serious occasions, and it also shows respect for both parties.

  After a polite greeting, Cao Yang invited the Apple team to the conference room.

The 3901 large meeting room in the middle of the 39th floor is a very large meeting room that can accommodate about 50 people. Under normal circumstances, such a large meeting room cannot be used. Usually, the problem is solved in some meeting rooms with 20 or 30 people. No matter how old you are, you can go directly to the Bo Xuetang.

  So the arrival of the Apple team is almost the first use of the 3901 conference room.

  For Cao Yang, there is a sense of ritual.

  After the two parties were seated, Phil explained his intentions, “Dear Mr. Cao Yang, we had a phone call before, but because you seem to be a bit busy, it has been delayed until now for this patent licensing negotiation meeting.”

   Phil said very tactfully, and he did not put the words "intentionally making things difficult" and "avoidance" directly on the face of Boss Cao, which is considered very restrained.

  "We have communicated with the general patent license content on the phone before. Today we brought Apple's own patent team and legal team over to conduct detailed license negotiations on specific patent content."

  After he finished speaking, the assistant sent the previously printed report to everyone present.

   Cao Yang was a little surprised when he got it.

  Because the report is too thick, it adds up to almost 300 pages, which is equivalent to a textbook of C# programming language.

There are two copies of the    report. In order to negotiate with Chinese companies, in addition to the English version, Apple specially asked someone to translate a Chinese version.

   Cao Yang raised his hand, flipped through the previous catalog section, couldn't help but smiled knowingly.

  It turns out that Bomi has applied for so many patents in the United States, and many of them are patents that Apple cannot bypass, so they are very anxious and must obtain Bomi's patent license as soon as possible.

  Of course, in this report, there is another part of the content, which is about the patents that Apple has applied for in the field of mobile phones.

  The main reason for talking about Apple’s own patents is that they want to use them in exchange. Everyone authorizes each other, which can reduce the patent fees paid by Apple.

  ……

  Bomi has applied for 786 patents in the United States, of which 158 were rejected, 274 were passed, and 354 are still under review.

  So today, Apple is here to talk about the most important 143 patents among these 274 patents.

  Others can be circumvented, such as the appearance of the [rounded rectangle] design patent, Apple can bypass the design, Bomi’s dual card dual camera, this is also the patent content that can be bypassed by Apple...

   But in the HOME button, graphical interface, multi-touch... this pile of patented content, it is difficult for Apple to get around.

Assuming that Bomi has relatively few patents and only one or two patents, then Apple will use it as soon as they use it. It doesn’t pay much attention to it at all. But Bomi is too ruthless. With mobile phones today, Bomi is equivalent to directly relying on patents to monopolize the future smart phone market, so as long as Apple wants to make achievements in the field of smart phones, Bomi is definitely a mountain that cannot be bypassed.

"Dear colleagues from Bomi, let me briefly explain the general content of this report," Phil looked down at the report and said, "Your company has obtained more than 200 patents in the United States, and Apple is also Do smart phones, and many of them have patents that overlap with your company, so our idea is whether we can authorize these patents on Bomi in the report to us in the form of mutual authorization.

  I have to emphasize one point,” Phil said, “Bomi is a very great company, and your achievements in the field of smartphones have made the world admire.

  Of course, Apple also has its own very advanced side. We have a number of patents and have passed the review and authorization in China. It is very beneficial for everyone to reach cooperation, and it is mutually beneficial for both parties.

  The smartphone produced by Apple uses the IOS operating system developed by ourselves. It is a relatively closed operating system, which is completely different from your company’s Hongmeng system, so you don’t have to worry about us becoming your competitor on the front.

Apple has its own users, and core fans are our target group. We need your company’s patent authorization. Let us provide better services to these people. Of course, I believe your company will also appreciate some of Apple’s patents. Interested.

  A strong alliance can enable both of us to develop better. "

  Because of the different operating systems, there will be no direct competition. I believe you are a ghost.

   But what Phil said also has a certain truth-

  For example, users who like Apple’s operating system find it difficult to accept WINDOWS, and users who are accustomed to Microsoft’s operating system also find it difficult to accept Apple’s OS system.

  Although there is a certain overlap in the notebook business areas of the two parties, the overlap range is not very large.

  The two groups of users quarrel on the Internet about ease of use and convenience every year.

The operating convenience of the Hongmeng system is definitely better than that of Apple. Cao Yang still has this self-confidence. After all, this gadget was brought in 2021 and used more than 15 years of Apple’s design to attack them. The result is obvious. of.

  But it’s hard to guarantee that those brain-dead fans just want to say that Apple’s mobile phones are easier to use.

  Cao Yang smiled and looked at the content of the report carefully, "Um...then Mr. Phil, please explain to us what the specific patent content is?"

  Of course, more importantly, Cao Yang has to look at the patents provided by Apple and he is not interested.

  Phil first talked about the patent licenses that Apple hopes to obtain from Bomi, and then talked about which patents Apple can exchange.

  Because of the excessive content of the patent, it is basically impossible to finish it in one or two days.

If you think about it, it’s almost a matter of telling the content of a course that takes college students 4 years to complete in a few days. In fact, it’s a difficult thing, and you have to deal with each item according to the requirements of both parties. The patent value is evaluated, and it is possible to make a clear discussion after a long tug of war.

  So this time they came, and the meeting lasted a long time.

  One morning, the Apple team talked about a small part of the patent content.

  After everyone finished their meal, they continued.

  Cao Yang asked directly, “Mr. Phil, can you first explain the contents of the patents you exchange?”

  In fact, during the lunch break, Cao Yang flipped through it, but he still had some questions about the specific content of many things.

   "Um... it's okay."

  Apple's patents are relatively small, with only more than 30 content, and it is faster to tell.

  ……

  After an afternoon of explanations, Cao Yang probably has some understanding.

Originally, according to the normal trajectory of Apple in the previous life, they could at least obtain more than 1,000 patented content through the world’s first smartphone. However, because most of these were made by Bomi, Apple could only obtain a small amount of its own. patent.

  Cao Yang is not interested in most of the patents, such as the wearing out of the casing, and the recording and sending of emoticons:

  An electronic device with a camera and a display device displays a virtual avatar whose appearance changes in response to changes in the face in the field of view of the camera. In response to detecting a change in one or more physical characteristics of the face in the field of view of the camera, the electronic device modifies one or more characteristics of the virtual avatar.

  Mobile phone glass layer patent:

A glass layer having a prepared surface; a primer layer provided on the prepared surface; an electroless plating metal layer provided on the primer layer; and an electroplating metal formed on the electroless plating metal layer Floor.

  Health management patent: The mobile phone can effectively detect the user's heart rate and the number of walking steps...Because there is a built-in sensor in the mobile phone to detect the position difference of vibration and movement...

  Mobile phone case, a design patent of a mobile phone case.

  ……

  In fact, Bomi is not needed.

  But there are also some patented functions that may be used in Bomi phones:

  For example, the suspension system, including the top mount, bottom mount, rigid shell, air spring and linear actuator.

Apple’s workmanship in this area is still very meticulous. The suspension system can effectively protect the electrical components in the phone case from shocks or damage to internal parts caused by strong knocks or direct hits on the ground. Mi phones need to be strengthened.

  So Cao Yang is still more interested in Apple’s suspension system and internal parts structure-related content.

  In addition, there are several patents that are also more valuable.

  ……

   mainly focuses on several aspects:

  The first one is Apple’s internal efficient processing technology:

  In this regard, Apple has invented the [Computational Efficient Model Selection Scheme for Multiple Models and Application Environments], [Consistency Switch for I/O Flow], [Space-Time Code with Incremental Redundancy]...

[Credit management when resource granularity is greater than credit granularity]: The receiver on the credit-based flow control interface is configured to release one or more of the data payloads that result in fewer unused data credits in the buffer memory Data credits, in which buffer memory is allocated at a coarser granularity than data credits.

  Header credit and data credit are dynamically adjusted based on the actual packet data payload size.

In this regard, Apple is worthy of being an established developer and has very powerful processing technology, many of which are accumulated from Apple computers. Therefore, in terms of overall efficiency, response speed and processing fluency, Apple is obviously better than Bomi is better.

  If this part of Apple's patent can be obtained, then the performance of Bomi's mobile phone can be improved by at least one grade.

  ……

  The second is that Apple’s patents on music hardware make Cao Yang more interested.

  In this report, there are 5 or 6 items in the music processing-related patents alone:

  1. Thin speaker configuration for compact electronic devices,

  2. Equipment and methods for active noise cancellation in personal listening devices.

  ……

Apple has been making the world’s best portable music equipment since the iPod era. Jobs’s requirements for this piece are extremely strict, so Apple’s speakers and headset-related construction techniques are quite advanced in the world. of.

  Now Bomi’s smartphones can only barely listen, but for some professional musicians or users with high requirements for music quality, the sound quality of Bomi’s mobile phones is not good.

  ……

  The third is Apple’s light-sensing system: Apple’s mobile phone has researched special light-sensing materials, which can make your mobile phone’s screen change twice with the change of light, and play a role in adjusting light and protecting eyesight.

Bomi’s mobile phone research and development time is limited, and there is no time to spend on research in such places. So now Bomi’s smart phone brightness adjustment is manually selected by the user. It is relatively weak in terms of adaptive automatic adjustment, and it is relatively weak in terms of light-sensitive materials. According to the research, Bomi can basically be said to be 0.

  They mainly rely on LG's own screen technology.

  ……

  The fourth is Apple’s patents related to integrated circuits and their packaging devices, as well as methods and components for packaging multiple integrated circuits.

  This aspect is the very core patent content, the design of Apple's chip design and related structure.

However, there is only a small part of the content disclosed here. Apple’s core chip design has done quite a good job of confidentiality, and it is impossible to exchange it with Bomi. The exchanged part is other integrations besides the processor. Circuit design part.

  At first, Cao Yang was very excited when he saw this place, but when he learned the truth, it could only mean that this thing was rather tasteless.

  ……

  The fifth is Apple’s technology patent on battery:

  Adaptive battery life extension; implicit power management mode and state transition...

Bomi’s battery has always been a headache, because Bomi uses a large screen, which consumes much more power than Apple’s small screen. Now Bomi uses a relatively clumsy way of using two batteries. To solve this problem, if the battery life can be enhanced through Apple's patent, the market performance will be greatly improved.

Apple’s mobile phone’s battery can’t be said to be so good, but their battery capacity on the computer is very strong. Now Apple’s mobile phone can last about 8 hours in standby mode. If you don’t play games, keep calling and texting 4. Five hours is no problem.

  Obtaining Apple’s battery-related technology can at least help Bomi’s own battery to improve a lot. With the addition of two batteries, the usage can also be greatly improved.

  ……

  In this part of the explanation, until the evening, the staff of Apple's patent team took turns taking turns, and they all talked about it.

  And several translations are the same.

  In the end, it was around 9 o'clock in the evening, and everyone felt that it was too early, so they had to rest separately and wait until tomorrow to discuss.

  ……

  This happened almost every day for the next three days.

  After Apple’s patent team clearly stated the contents of the Apple patents they could assign, Bomi also held a separate discussion meeting.

  "Which of the patent exchanges Apple provided this time, do you think are more valuable?" Cao Yang asked.

   Liu Qiang summed up with everyone and responded, “The most valuable thing is definitely their efficient processing method. If we can obtain Apple’s patent license, our mobile phone performance should be greatly improved.

  Battery has always been a headache for us. This part should also be more useful. Power equipment related, such as power cords, charging... These are all valuable and are our weaker links.

  The other more valuable ones are their speakers and music functions.

  Light perception is a relatively high-end and humanized thing, but it also has a certain value..."

   Liu Qiang's judgment is similar to Cao Yang's own.

In the end, it took more than half a day. Bomi himself did a careful analysis and research on the Apple patents that could be exchanged, and finally concluded that there are about 20 patents that are more valuable and can be listed in the subsequent negotiations. among.

   Cao Yang’s attitude is to never want patents that are relatively tasteless, but not necessary. This can increase the upper limit of the patent licensing fees that Bomi collects in subsequent negotiations.

  Obviously, the more content you exchange, the less weight you can use to bargain.

  Apple just wants to reduce the cost of patent fees, so it reluctantly cuts love and takes out some of its own things under the box for exchange.

  In 2015, Huawei and Apple reached a series of patent license agreements covering wireless communication technologies such as GSM, UMTS, and LTE.

  Huawei licensed 769 patents to Apple, and Apple licensed 98 patents to Huawei. In the communications industry, when the two companies sign patent licenses, the party with the larger number of patent licenses has to charge the party with the smaller number of patent fees. That is to say, Huawei has begun to collect patent license fees from Apple.

So if Bomi and Apple reach a mutual license for patents this time, then Bomi will have more patents licensed by that time, and Apple will also have to pay Bomi patent fees, but they will not buy them separately without exchanging them. That's more.

  ……

  Since both parties have a certain degree of understanding of the patents held by the other party, the negotiation really entered the core stage——

  How many patents need to be exchanged, and what is the asking price of Bomi and the patent license fee that Apple is going to give.

  This is another very long process. Both parties go through one by one, and the journey is very slow, and it takes a lot of time to negotiate the value of each patent.

  A week passed quickly.

  Cao Yang felt that this period of time was passing fast. He came to the company for a meeting every morning, and then in the blink of an eye, it was night, each back and forth saw a long time.

  Finally, almost 7 days later, both teams have a very deep understanding of each other.

  Negotiating has almost come to an end.

  ……

  It is difficult to determine the patent royalties. Generally speaking, the amount can be considered based on the following factors.

  1. The difficulty and cost of the patentee’s research and development of the patented technology. Generally speaking, patents that are difficult to research and develop and have a lot of development costs have relatively high royalties.

  Second, the size of the income that the licensee can obtain after using the patent, if the income is large, the use fee is high.

  This should be easy to understand. I have invested 10 billion in the research and development of this patent, so in general, the patent licensing fees that need to be charged are naturally higher.

  And the more value this patent can generate in the future, the higher the natural use fee will be.

  Patent licensing fees can be paid in accordance with the annual fee. For example, if Apple wants to use Bomi’s more than 100 patents, it can be packaged for it, and how much will it charge each year.

  In the beginning, the two parties talked and negotiated according to this article, but they did not agree.

  The reason for not agreeing is also very simple.

  Bomi believes that we have invested a lot of money, manpower and material resources in the research and development of smart phones. Naturally, we need to have equal requirements. Therefore, the lowest price that Bomi hopes is that Apple needs to pay US$130 million in patent licensing fees for Bomi every year.

  $130 million? !

  When Phil heard this number, his whole body was not good.

"impossible……"

  Apple has not yet launched its mobile phone business, mainly through the sale of computers and other equipment for profit.

  Apple’s turnover last year was not as good as that of China’s Lenovo, with only 8.4 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. For the next 20 years (the patent validity period), it will pay Bomi U.S. $130 million every year, which is indeed a bit unbearable.

  Apple is now similar to Bomi. It is also spending money. The mobile phone industry has to expand and reproduce. It will inevitably cost a lot of money. It is indeed a bit too difficult for them to spend so many patent license fees at one time.

  So the double hair started a long tug of war on this amount.

  Looking at the time passing by, Phil later called the U.S. side and held a board meeting remotely. After thinking about it for a long time with Jobs, the executives and Jobs decided that they could purchase another patent license.

  Discuss the rate agreement in accordance with the internationally accepted license rate framework.

What does that mean?

   is not to pay a fixed amount, but to pay based on the sales volume and sales results of the product.

  This set of standards is a relatively common international standard, which is more advantageous for some small companies.

For example, there is a domestic manufacturer called Xiaojiao who wants to produce smart phones. They can't pay the high license fee, so they can get the license of Bomi through the license rate. For example, they are selling 500,000 mobile phones. Under the circumstances, each mobile phone needs to pay a license fee of $1 to Bomi.

  The more the quantity sold, the lower the fee rate that needs to be paid, but the higher the total expenditure. This is the internationally accepted licensing fee rate framework.

  In this way, Apple can pay Bomi company expenses on the premise of ensuring that it makes money.

  Because the premise of payment is that Apple must be able to sell mobile phones, and the more the number sold, the higher the payment.

  So everyone returned to the negotiation table and negotiated in accordance with the set of licensing fees.

  To be honest, if it weren’t for the fact that this group of people didn’t leave, Cao Yang had already wanted to give it up and go back to sleep.

  This time is really exhausting.

  Of course, it is even more suffering for the Apple team.

  But they have no choice, because the release of the Apple mobile phone is imminent, and Jobs will hold an Apple mobile phone conference early next year. If there is a delay in time, the loss will be very serious.

  So even though Phil and the others felt very tired, it was really hard to encounter Cao Yang and this group of Chinese [gangsters], but no matter how hard it is, I have to suffer.

  They directly booked a hotel in the Imperial Capital for a month, and they simply depended on it. They didn’t plan to return to the U.S. until the negotiation was over.

  For Apple’s request, after exchanging the required patents, the price offered by Apple here is that every Apple mobile phone sold requires a patent license fee of $1.50 to Bomi.

  Of course, this price fluctuates.

  1 to 500,000 units, each Apple pays $1.50 to Bomi. If the sales range is between 500,000 and 1 million, the rate will drop to $1.34, the range of 1 million to 2 million will drop to $1.26, and so on...

  If there are more than 75 million units, the payment rate is 0.15 USD/unit.

   Obviously this figure is unacceptable for Cao Yang.

  Co-author If you sold 200 million iPhones, we only charged 30 million US dollars?

  This is far from the $130 million annual fee that Bomi had previously expected to charge.

  Nima...The new plan has lost so much, Bomi is definitely unacceptable.

  So Bomi re-proposed the price code and increased the rate to:

  1 to 500,000 units, each Apple pays US$6.5 to Bomi...If more than 75 million units, you need to pay Bomi for a patent license at a price of US$1.5/unit.

  This is fair. In the future, Bomi will also follow this standard for licensing fees on the market.

  Because Bomi has too many patents, and this time it is obvious that the bargaining power lies with Bomi.

   "Otherwise, we can talk about licensing fees separately for each item." Cao Yang said directly.

   Phil broke out in a cold sweat on the spot.

  ……

  (End of this chapter)