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Chapter 2658 The Pledge of Allegiance

After discussions, several international mobile phone giants decided that Samsung, catering to the West, would take on this project.

It's important to understand that Samsung Electronics was also an emerging brand at that time. If it wanted to grow bigger, it had to align itself with European and American mobile phone giants.

Taking on this task is a perfect way to pledge allegiance to European and American giants and markets.

Moreover, among these international mobile phone giants, Samsung's legal department has the most experience in cross-border intellectual property lawsuits and is most adept at initiating lawsuits simultaneously in multiple jurisdictions.

Because Samsung has been sued by its European and American counterparts, it is well aware of the power of such lawsuits and has gained unique experience in dealing with them.

They have resident legal teams in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and have long-term cooperation agreements with the best local intellectual property law firms. They are so familiar with the litigation process that it's like their own backyard.

Samsung's legal department assembled a special litigation team overnight, with dozens of lawyers divided into three groups.

The teams were the United States, Europe, and Japan, and they were simultaneously drafting the indictment.

The team leaders made phone calls from morning till night, reconciling their statements across time zones.

"The initial draft of the complaint from the US side is out, mainly focusing on screen packaging technology and antenna design. What about your European side?" the US team leader asked on the phone.

The head of the European team was reviewing the newly printed draft. "We're starting with the communication protocol stack and user interface layout. But to be honest, communication protocols are international standards, and if we were to sue, the court would have a very low chance of accepting our arguments."

What did they say in Japan?

The head of the Japanese team, a partner at a top law firm in Tokyo, spoke cautiously: "Japanese courts have very strict standards for determining patent infringement. Functional similarity alone is not enough; there must be evidence of overlap at the source code level. We currently have no source code evidence, so the lawsuit can only focus on the product's appearance and functional description."

"Can the appearance and functional descriptions hold water?" the US team leader pressed.

"It's hard to say. Japanese courts are not like the Eastern District of Texas courts; they won't rule in your favor just because your complaint is long."

The leader of the US team paused for two seconds, then said, "Don't worry about whether we can win or not, just file the lawsuit first. Headquarters requires speed; we need to file the lawsuit in three locations simultaneously and release the press release to the media at the same time. Whether we win the lawsuit or not is not important; what's important is to create momentum."

Thus, the lengthy indictment, spanning dozens of pages, was filled with dozens of vague accusations, ranging from screen packaging technology to underlying communication protocols.

Some of the terms were written so broadly that even Samsung's own technical experts shook their heads when they saw them.

An external lawyer involved in drafting the indictment asked Samsung's legal head over the phone: "Article 7 alleges that the defendant's product's communication protocol is substantially similar to the plaintiff's patent. Communication protocols are international standards, and all mobile phone manufacturers worldwide follow the same protocol specifications. How do we argue this?"

The legal representative said, "You don't need to worry about how to type it, just write it down first."

"Article 14: The screen packaging process of the defendant's product is similar to that of the plaintiff's product. The screen packaging process is a common technology in the industry, and the equipment was purchased from Japanese suppliers. This article is not very tenable."

"Write."

"Article 23: The user interface layout of the defendant's product is similar to that of the plaintiff's product. This..."

"I said I would write it."

The lawyer put down his pen, sighed, and said, "These clauses are completely untenable in court. The opposing side could easily refute them one by one by a single expert witness with even a modicum of technical knowledge."

The legal representative said, "It doesn't matter if the case doesn't stand up to scrutiny; what we want is the act of filing a lawsuit itself. The news that Samsung is simultaneously suing China Electronics in three jurisdictions around the world is enough to damage their brand image. As for the outcome of the lawsuit, that's a matter for three to five years from now, by which time the market landscape will have already been set."

The lawyer paused for a few seconds, then said, "I understand. I'll continue writing."

"Write faster. Headquarters requires a final draft within 48 hours, and the press release and indictment must be sent out simultaneously."

……

The press release and the indictment were sent to the editorial offices of major financial media outlets around the world almost simultaneously.

It's well known that these mobile phone giants in Europe and America are masters of propaganda warfare. Regardless of the final outcome, they prioritize discrediting their opponents.

The headlines were all increasingly sensational...

Samsung sues Tianchao Electronics for infringing multiple mobile communication patents; Tianchao No. 1 is suspected of copying Samsung mobile phone designs; Chinese mobile phone brands face the largest intellectual property lawsuit.

On the terminals of major news agencies, messages popped up one after another, and reporters' inboxes were flooded with emails from Samsung's public relations team, which included the full text of the indictment in PDF format and a pre-written press release, which the media could publish directly with a different headline.

For most companies, facing a cross-border lawsuit of Samsung's magnitude, the sheer volume of legal proceedings and legal fees in three different courts would be overwhelming.

Simultaneous litigation in the United States, Europe, and Japan means hiring legal teams from three different jurisdictions, each with exorbitant hourly rates.

The upfront costs of responding to a lawsuit alone are enough to bankrupt a medium-sized company several times over.

But when Suning saw these news reports, he was leisurely having tea with the legal director of Tianchao Electronics.

Chen Yan, the legal director of Tianchao Electronics, is a veteran transferred from the legal department of Tianchao Group. Back when Tianchao Auto was waging a propaganda war, he was the one who charged ahead, taking those media outlets and public intellectuals who spread rumors to court one by one, with a 100% success rate.

Chen Yan is well aware of the tactics used in these kinds of transnational lawsuits. The thicker the indictment, the less substantive evidence there is, indicating that it is just bluffing.

Chen Yan flipped through a copy of Samsung's lawsuit, and halfway through, he burst out laughing. Then, pointing to one of the clauses, he said to Su Ning, "Mr. Su, look at this... The defendant's product uses a screen packaging process similar to the plaintiff's product. Screen packaging technology is a common industry technology; Samsung itself buys its equipment from Japanese suppliers. What grounds does he have to sue us?"

“…” Su Ning picked up her teacup, took a sip, and said nothing.

Chen Yan turned to another page, pointed to another point, and said, "And this one... The communication protocol of the defendant's product is substantially similar to the plaintiff's patent. Communication protocols are international standards, and all mobile phone manufacturers worldwide must follow the same protocol specifications. There is no question of one copying the other. Samsung's lawsuit is mass-produced; several of the technology patents it accuses of have long since expired and are publicly available technology. The remaining dozens of points are all far-fetched comparisons at the functional description level, without any substantial technical evidence, and they cannot stand up in court."

Suning put down his teacup, picked up the lawsuit document, and flipped through it. "The first step is that the Ministry of Justice of China simultaneously filed a countersuit against Samsung China in Beijing, accusing it of malicious litigation and unfair competition. They sued us for infringement, and we sued them for malicious litigation. We can't just let them fight us; we have to let them taste what it's like to be sued too."

"Understood." Chen Yan nodded and took a pen to write it down in his notebook.

"The second step was to send letters to the courts hearing the case, clearly informing them that Tianchao Electronics holds complete independent intellectual property rights to all the technologies involved and is willing to conduct a point-by-point comparison of the disputed technologies under the supervision of the court. We will provide the complete design documents and R&D logs of Tianchao No. 1 as evidence in court. They say I plagiarized? I will lay out the original design documents in court and let them compare them line by line to see exactly where I copied."

"Understood." Chen Yan quickly took notes. "I'll arrange for the technical department to assist with compiling the R&D logs immediately."

"The third step is to notify major media outlets around the world that Tianchao Electronics will hold a press conference regarding Samsung's malicious lawsuit."

Chen Yan put down his pen, looked up at Su Ning, and asked, "President Su, what's the tone and wording of the spokesperson's remarks at the press conference? Should it be a mild response or a strong counterattack?"

“Neither too forceful nor too mild,” Su Ning said. “Let the facts speak for themselves. Didn’t they build up momentum for three months? We’ll put the timeline, patent number, and third-party testing reports all on the screen. We won’t say a word more; let the facts speak for themselves.” “Okay! Mr. Su, I understand.”

……

The press conference was held in the grand ballroom of the China World Hotel in Beijing, where journalists from major global news agencies and mainstream financial media outlets were seated.

When the spokesperson for China Electronics took the stage, he did not bring any prepared remarks, only a remote-controlled pen.

Behind the spokesperson, a huge screen displayed in sequence technical appraisal reports issued by authoritative third-party testing institutions, non-core patent application acceptance notices issued by the State Intellectual Property Office, and engineering logs from the research and development process.

The spokesperson pressed the remote pen, and a set of comparative timelines appeared on the screen. "All the core technologies of Tianchao No. 1 are self-developed, and our core functions are not available from Samsung. In addition, we checked the patent catalogs of Samsung and European mobile phone manufacturers, and they are completely inconsistent with the technology used by Tianchao No. 1."

He paused, allowing the audience to clearly see the technology on the screen, and then said, "Samsung... how did we copy a patent that none of you even possess? This is like accusing someone who got a perfect score on a test of copying from a student who did poorly in class!"

A flurry of camera shutter clicks erupted from the audience.

Several foreign journalists in the front row were typing rapidly on their laptops.

The spokesperson did not pause and continued to turn to the next page.

The screen displayed dozens of patent allegations from Samsung's lawsuit, each marked with specific technical standards, which were completely unrelated to the technology of Tianchao No. 1.

Dozens of accusations were dissected one by one, some marked "expired patents", some marked "international standard", and some marked "Samsung and international mobile phone brands do not have this technology".

The spokesperson said, "Every company has the right to protect its rights through legal means, and Tianchao Electronics respects all legitimate intellectual property rights. However, if anyone uses the law as a stumbling block to market competition and uses it to create public opinion to smear Chinese brands, we will fight back to the end."

Then, he pressed the remote pen again and turned to the last page: "On behalf of Tianchao Electronics, I hereby solemnly declare... We will respond to every single accusation made by Samsung in court. Samsung has sued us in three jurisdictions around the world, and we will respond in all three jurisdictions simultaneously and submit our own evidence in each court."

He paused, then raised his voice slightly: "We do not accept any form of out-of-court settlement, nor do we pay any form of patent licensing fees. Tianchao Electronics has not infringed on anyone's intellectual property rights, and we will not pay a single penny."

The spokesperson put down the remote pen amidst the sound of camera shutters and said, "Tianchao Electronics will pursue any media outlet that spreads baseless rumors to the end, and may even file a countersuit."

The spokesperson then walked straight off the stage without answering any individual questions from reporters.

As the spokesperson stepped off the stage, a foreign journalist in the audience whispered to his colleague next to him, "This is the toughest press conference I've ever seen from a Chinese company, bar none."

The colleague nodded: "And they weren't just making threats; they really laid all the evidence on the table."

……

As soon as the news broke, the entire domestic mobile phone industry silently clenched its fists.

In the past, when faced with such transnational bullying lawsuits, many domestic brands could only helplessly pay compensation and accept defeat.

It's not because there was actual infringement, but because we can't afford to fight a cross-border lawsuit.

Unable to afford millions of dollars in legal fees, they simply paid a patent fee to settle the matter, saving a lot of trouble for a small price to avoid a major problem, swallowing their pride and suffering in silence.

This time, Tianchao Electronics fired the most inspiring shot on behalf of China's technology industry.

That evening, Tianchao Electronics' official website published the technical white paper of Tianchao No. 1, which was made available for free download by users and media worldwide.

Every single technology is unique to Tianchao Electronics; international mobile phone giants simply don't have similar technologies.

Official flagship stores in various regions are operating as usual, and the lines to buy mobile phones are still very long, showing no impact whatsoever on the lawsuit.

While waiting in line, a customer chatted with someone next to him about Samsung's lawsuit, "Have you heard? Samsung sued China Electronics, and simultaneously in several countries. Won't that affect after-sales service?"

The man next to him waved the Tianchao No. 1 in his hand, "The more Samsung sues, the better the phone is. Why would they spend so much money suing you if it weren't good? Do they have nothing better to do?"

A girl in front of her in line turned around and chimed in, "Exactly. Samsung sells its own phones for so much, yet the specs aren't even as good as the Tianchao No. 1. I heard they all copy European phone technology, and now that sales aren't good, they're suing for plagiarism. What did they copy? Can they even copy the Tianchao No. 1's after-sales policy?"

The people around laughed.

Samsung's legal department is also paying attention to Tianchao Electronics' press conference.

After the press conference ended live, the head of the US team called the South Korean headquarters and asked, "Did you watch their press conference?"

The legal representative said, "I've seen it."

“They have dismantled our lawsuit line by line, and Samsung does not have the relevant technology. Now the media is focusing on their press conference, and our press release has been suppressed.”

The legal representative paused for a few seconds, then said, "I saw it."

"Should we continue the lawsuit? If so, the next step is the discovery phase. According to US litigation procedures, we need to produce substantial evidence during discovery; simply comparing the functional descriptions in the indictment is not enough. If we cannot produce such evidence, the court may dismiss the case."

"..." The legal representative did not answer.

The head of the US team added, "Moreover, they have filed a countersuit against us for malicious litigation and unfair competition, in Beijing. If we lose the case in the US, the case in Beijing will also be very detrimental to us."

The legal representative finally spoke: "I will report to my superiors. You should suspend the preparations for the discovery of evidence and wait for instructions from headquarters."

After hanging up the phone, the legal representative leaned back in his chair, looking at the indictment in front of him that had been repeatedly ridiculed in the media after being refuted point by point by Tianchao Electronics.

He glanced at the ever-increasing sales curve of Tianchao No.1 in major global markets and suddenly felt that all the legal fees he had spent had been wasted.

The sound was quite loud, but it didn't leave a mark on the person.

Moreover, Samsung does indeed want to use this lawsuit to appeal to Europe and the United States, but this does not mean that it will completely give up the opportunity to enter the Chinese market.

So, just go through the motions; there's really no need to offend China Electronics to the point of no return.

...(End of this chapter)