China and Japan's rare earth industry started almost at the same time, but due to patent barriers, some high-end applications such as Ndfeb manufacturing products have been unable to export normally. After nearly a year of preparation, seven NdFeb enterprises from China's rare earth downstream decided to break the Japanese rare earth patent barriers and "head up".
Yesterday, Zhao Hongliang, general manager of Ningbo Tongchuang strong Magnetic Materials Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Ningbo Tongchuang"), told the "First Financial News" reporter that with the help of American lawyers, some Chinese rare earth enterprises are ready to join hands with Japan to fight patent lawsuits, and the preparation work has been done for nearly a year.
According to a data obtained by our reporter, Japan's Hitachi Metal has applied for more than 600 NdFeb patents in the world, of which 149 (4 have expired) U.S. patents have been authorized by 8 NdFeb companies in China. "Hitachi Metal takes so many patents, nothing but to monopolize the NdFeb market." Shenyang North Flux Technology Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "North Flux") chairman Sun Baoyu said.
Other data show that the current production of NdFeb in China is about 80,000 tons, of which the production of patent license is about 20,000 tons, and the remaining 60,000 tons, 30,000 to 40,000 tons are digested in the domestic market, and 20,000 to 30,000 tons of exports require a patent license. "This 20,000 to 30,000 tons is the demand of the high-end market, which will affect the future development of the company." Sun Baoyu once told our reporter that because there is no patent authorization of Hitachi metal, the NdFeb produced by the North of Tongmagnetic, downstream customers dare not buy.
Exports are blocked by patents
Sun Baoyu told our reporter that in August last year, he was organizing some of China's NdFeb enterprises to set up an alliance, ready to break the patent monopoly of Hitachi metal. This alliance is named "rare earth permanent magnet industry technology innovation strategic alliance", its member units in addition to the north Tongmagnetics and Ningbo Tongchuang, there are Ningbo permanent magnetic Industry Co., LTD., Ningbo Ketian Magnetic Industry Co., LTD., Hangzhou Permanent Magnet Group Co., LTD., Ningbo Huahui Magnetic Industry Co., LTD., Guangdong Jiangmen Magnetic Source New Materials Co., LTD.
Sun Baoyu introduced that the purpose of the alliance is to jointly invest, jointly research and development, common development, and jointly deal with intellectual property rights (including patent matters), "we can not compete with Hitachi Metal as a company, if seven companies unite, plus a team of lawyers, so as to compete."
Magnetic materials are relatively prosperous areas of rare earth downstream applications, Ndfeb materials are widely used in motor, wind power, automotive and electroacoustic fields. But this relatively prosperous area has been firmly controlled by Japan's Hitachi Metal with patented technology.
Among them, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan launched the US 337 investigation in 1998 together with Magnequench Corporation of the United States (case number: 337-TA-413), because the two Chinese companies involved did not respond to the lawsuit, the U.S. International Trade Commission eventually issued a "general exclusion order", that is, unless it obtained a permit from Sumitomo (which became Hitachi Metal after 2003) or Magquemagneto, Otherwise, any NdFeb product that violates the following U.S. patent number may not be sold into the United States, including: Patents No. 4851058(Magumoto's patent), 4802931(Magumoto's patent), 4496395(Magumoto's patent), 4770723(Sumitomo's patent), 4792368(Sumitomo's patent) and 5645651(Sumitomo's patent).
Hitachi Metal acquired Sumitomo Corporation of Japan in 2003, and also acquired Sumitomo's patented technology in NdFeb sintering. Among them, the last patent number is the Hitachi metal core patent known as the "cobalt patent" in China's NdFeb industry, which is valid in the United States from July 8, 1999 to July 8, 2014.
"When the cobalt patent expires, the general exclusion order for that patent will expire on the same date." This means that China's NdFeb products sold to the United States after July 8, even without Hitachi Metal's permission, there will be no legal obstacles.
However, in 2012, Hitachi Metal took out four more process patents to set off a new round of "337 investigation" in an attempt to obtain a "general exclusion order" again. The final result is that Hitachi Financial Group and the three Chinese companies that responded to the lawsuit ended in a patent authorization settlement, and withdrew the lawsuit against three other downstream magnet application companies.
In the view of other NdFeb enterprises, Hitachi Metal's lawsuit seems to declare that although its core patent expires on July 8, 2014, it will not relax restrictions on the export of Chinese products because it has many patents. "If Hitachi Metal's patent is valid, in addition to the eight domestic enterprises authorized by the patent, the products produced by other Ndfeb enterprises have become illegal exports and can only be sold in China."
Joint "anti-Japanese"
Similarly, this move by Hitachi Metal has also given hope to some NdFeb enterprises in China.
"Hitachi Metal must make the most adequate preparation before suing and pick out the most core patents." "Hitachi Metal would not have settled with the three Chinese companies if it was sure it could win." Sun Baoyu believes that Hitachi Metal therefore chose to reach a settlement before the trial.
Zhao Hongliang introduced that in the past, Japan went ahead in the NdFeb process, and used advanced instruments to analyze the components and applied for patents, while Chinese companies are still more immersed in hard work, lack of understanding of the rules of the game in international trade, and there is no awareness of active response. "By breaking down patent barriers, we will gain a level playing field with them in the international market."
Our reporter learned that in addition to the above seven companies to jointly fight against Japanese companies' patent trade barriers, has set up a research and development team, improve the process and equipment, and applied for hundreds of patents in China and the United States, these patents are a number of Hitachi metal patents failed to cover the aspects of the supplement.
