中國手機制造商能否跨越知識產權障礙成功紮根海外

News that India’s High Court of Delhi issued an injunction against Chinese smartphone upstart Xiaomi was a reminder of how much Chinese smartphone makers still have to grow. It was not, however, an indication that the Chinese can’t grow into international brands.

印度德里高等法院下達針對中國智能手機新貴小米公司（Xiaomi）的一項禁令，這則消息提醒了我們，中國智能手機制造商還有多長的路要走。不過，這並不意味着中國手機無法成長爲國際品牌。

The Swedish telecom giant Ericsson filed suit in India complaining that Xiaomi did not pay royalties on its wireless technology patents. The court agreed and instructed Xiaomi to stop selling and importing in the country until February, when the court hears the case.

瑞典電訊巨頭愛立信（Ericsson）在印度將小米告上法庭，理由是小米使用了愛立信的無線科技專利卻沒有支付專利費。法院方面已經通過了愛立信提交的申請，並宣佈在明年二月開庭審理之前禁止小米在印度銷售和進口智能手機。

“Ericsson’s commitment to the global support of technology and innovation is undisputed. It is unfair for Xiaomi to benefit from our substantial R&D investment without paying a reasonable licensee fee for our technology,” Ericsson said in a statement.

愛立信發言人在一份聲明中表示，“愛立信一直致力於全球範圍內的科技發展和創新，這一點是毫無爭議的。小米使用了我們大量的科研成果，卻沒有支付合理的技術授權費用，這是不公平的。”

Xiaomi had been on a roll in India. In October Xiaomi said it sold 40,000 phones in just four seconds in an online flash sale. Hugo Barra, vice president of Xiaomi global, said in a posting on Google Plus today the company had 150,000 registrations for its Redmi Note on the e-commerce site Flipkart just as the injunction came down.

小米手機在印度的發展勢頭如火如荼。10月份時該公司曾宣稱，在一次網上限時搶購活動中，開售僅4秒鐘就有4萬臺手機售出。12月12日，小米全球副總裁雨果o巴拉在社交網站Google+上表示，就在禁令下達時，公司通過電子商務網站Flipkart收到了15萬份紅米Note手機的訂購單。

That momentum is halted for now, but not quashed. Patent disputes in the smartphone industry are as common as hot specs on a new phone. The litigious history of Apple and Samsung, which included injunctions before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire, is but one example. According to Ericsson, Xiaomi had been unresponsive during three years of attempts by the Swedish company to get compensation for its standard essential patents (those essential in connecting a phone to a wireless standard) for GSM, EDGE, and UMTS/WCDMA standards. A Xiaomi spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

雖然小米的發展勢頭被暫時遏止，但並不意味着就此偃旗息鼓。專利糾紛在智能手機業內相當常見，和新款手機的熱門配置一樣層出不窮。蘋果（Apple）和三星（Samsung）的訴訟史就是其中一例，這兩大巨頭在決定停戰前也曾多次向對方發出禁令。愛立信指出，三年來它一直要求小米對GSM、EDGE、UMTS/WCDMA標準產品的標準核心專利（將手機連接無線設備的關鍵專利）方面的侵權活動進行賠償，但對方從未迴應。小米公司的一位女性發言人拒絕就此發表任何看法。

“Xiaomi needs to act fast to reverse the injunction to protect its brand image in the country,” Canalys analyst Rushabh Doshi said in an email. According to Canalys, Xiaomi shipped close to 340,000 units to India in the third quarter.

“小米要迅速設法撤銷這一禁令，才能維護它在印度的品牌形象，” 市場研究公司Canalys的分析師拉沙布o多什在一封電子郵件中寫道。根據Canalys的資料，第三季度已有近34萬臺小米手機運到了印度。

A quick settlement is likely. Xiaomi doesn’t want to face Ericsson in court—a state-run Chinese newspaper reported last week Xiaomi only holds 12 authorized patents in China—and the smartphone newcomer wants to continue its early momentum in India.

雙方有希望迅速達成和解。一家中國官方報紙上週報道稱，小米在國內僅擁有12項授權專利，它並不想與愛立信對簿公堂，這位智能手機後起之秀希望保持它在印度的發展勢頭。

Xiaomi can end an injunction quickly enough if it chooses. It can offer Ericsson a percentage of every device it sells in India. That will crimp operating margins, already slim on Xiaomi’s smartphones that sell for as low as $96 in the country, but allow Xiaomi to keep selling. By the time Xiaomi expands to Brazil and Mexico next year, as it has previously said it intends to, its patent portfolio and R&D could be expanded to give it more bargaining power in future patent lawsuits.

如果小米願意，它能夠迅速讓法院撤銷這項禁令，比如將印度銷售的手機收入分一部分給愛立信。不過，此舉將減少小米的經營利潤率，讓這款在印度售價僅96美元的手機利潤進一步壓低，但這樣小米至少還能繼續其銷售業務。根據小米宣佈的計劃，明年小米將進軍巴西和墨西哥市場，小米將擴展專利組合和研發範圍，從而在今後的專利糾紛中獲得更多的議價能力。

Xiaomi’s case in India isn’t isolated. Ericsson ERIC -1.31% has filed suits against Indian-firms including Micromax and a separate Chinese smartphone maker Gionee, which has run a successful business in India for years. Gionee’s president William Lu told me about the case in a November interview at Gionee headquarters in Shenzhen. I asked him if Chinese smartphone vendors had expanded to India because like China, it has a reputation for lax patent enforcement when compared to Western Europe or the U.S. Lu stopped me. “Being in India, you cannot avoid the IP issue,” he said, and offered the Ericsson dispute as proof.

小米在印度的訴訟並非個案。愛立信也曾對印度企業Micromax和另一家中國智能手機制造商金立（Gionee）提出過訴訟。金立手機近年來在印度的經營也相當成功。該公司總裁盧偉冰11月份在深圳總部接受筆者採訪時，提到了他們和愛立信的訴訟案。當被問到中國手機制造商紛紛開拓印度市場，是否是因爲印度和中國一樣，在專利管理方面沒有西歐或美國那麼嚴格時，盧先生打斷了記者的提問，表示“在印度，你是不能迴避知識產權問題的”，並舉出愛立信的訴訟案作爲例證。

Xiaomi must have realized the same thing this week.

小米應該也意識到了這一點。

The Chinese smartphone makers’ lack of patents has been known for years. Ericsson’s suit in India is the first taste of the IP hurdle Xiaomi faces outside the favorable confines of China, where the court system established low royalty rates in a case involving the U.S. company InterDigital and under Qualcomm’s terms, the smartphone makers don’t file disputes against one another if they use Qualcomm chips (which almost all do).

多年來，中國的智能手機制造商缺乏專利已經是業內共知的事實。愛立信在印度的訴訟是小米在中國這一有利的市場邊界之外，首嘗知識產權障礙。中國的法院系統在美國公司InterDigital一案中中設定了非常低的專利使用費，而根據高通公司（Qualcomm）的條款，使用高通公司芯片（幾乎所有公司都是如此）的各智能手機制造商之間不能互相提起爭端。

If Xiaomi quickly settles with Ericsson in India, the episode might be seen as just a hurdle in Xiaomi’s global expansion.

如果小米能夠和愛立信迅速了結在印度的爭端，那麼這一段插曲只會被當作小米全球擴張途中掀起的一道波瀾。（財富中文網）