On the first day after the Dragon Boat Festival, Gree Electric officially reported the Oaks air-conditioning “production and sales of unqualified products”, boarded the hot search, and brushed the home appliance industry, which also led many companies in the Internet, IT technology and other industries.

In fact, the dispute between the two sides has been for a long time, Gree has repeatedly sued Oaks for infringement of its patent rights. Tianxue investigation information shows that the Oaks Group has as many as 34 lawsuits, mostly related to patent disputes.

Gree Electric Appliances “Roar” Oaks

On June 10th, Gree Electric released a report letter on the official Weibo on the production and sales of unqualified air-conditioning products of Aux Air Conditioning Co., Ltd. The report was submitted to the State Administration of Market Supervision. Gree Electric also has the National Development and Reform Commission in Weibo.

According to the “Report Letter”, Gree Electric reported to the State Administration of Market Supervision that the issue of the sale and sale of unqualified air-conditioning products by Oaks Air Conditioning Co., Ltd. was submitted to the General Administration for verification.

Gree Electric said that Oaks Air Conditioning Co., Ltd.’s production and sales of unqualified air-conditioning products seriously violated the national “room air conditioner energy efficiency limit value and energy efficiency rating” (GB12021.3-2010) mandatory standards, in violation of the product Article 26, paragraph 2 (3), and Article 32 of the Quality Law violates the provisions of Article 25 of the Standardization Law, and the sales amount of unqualified products suspected of forming production and sales is huge. At present, the above products are still sold through mainstream e-commerce platforms and physical stores. According to the statistics of the TOP20 model list of China’s air-conditioning e-commerce market announced by Aowei.com, only online sales of KFR-25GW/NEW+3 and KFR-35GW/NEW+3 models will be online in 2018. Up to 1.671 billion yuan, sales of nearly one million sets.

For Gree Electric on June 10 through the official microblogging real name report Oaks production and sales of unqualified air-conditioning products, that night, Oaks also released the “Statement on the so-called report letter of Gree Electric Co., Ltd.” through the official Weibo, bluntly Gree “smashed “The company has already reported the case to the public security organ. Aux said that the company is willing to accept supervision and inspection by consumers and relevant state departments. “For Gree’s false report, our company will report the case to the public security organ and will file a lawsuit with the judicial authorities to protect the legitimate rights and interests of our company and maintain the normal order of the market.”

The two sides have been entangled for a long time

Before this public report, Gree Electric and Oaks have been entangled for a long time.

In August 2015, Gree Electric appealed to the court on the grounds that a series of air-conditioners produced by Oaks infringed on its three patents, although the Oaks signed an appeal against the judgment. However, the Guangdong Higher Court final judgment determined that the company’s infringement was established, and should immediately stop selling infringing air-conditioning products and compensate Gree’s economic loss of 2.3 million yuan. Since then, in June 2017, Gree Electric has also filed a lawsuit against Oakland’s Athena series of air conditioners infringing Gree’s patent rights.

More closely watched by the market, in November 2017, Gree Electric infringed on the eight types of air-conditioning products of Oaks and Guangzhou Jingdong Trading Co., Ltd., which were free to produce, sell and use Gree Electric’s patented technology without permission. Gree Electric’s patent rights. Greli requested the court to order Oaks and Jingdong to immediately stop the infringement and demand that Oaks compensate Gree for economic losses and reasonable use of 40 million yuan. In this regard, Aux said that Gree Electric’s patent right has been partially invalidated by the Patent Reexamination Board. The patent right is in an unstable state. The technology used by the company’s responded products does not fall within the scope of the plaintiff’s patent protection, so it does not constitute infringement. However, in this case, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court found that more than 10 air-conditioning products, including Oaks Goldman, Speedman, Geek, etc., infringed the integration of Gree electric water tray, double air duct air conditioner, air conditioner The three patents, such as the indoor unit, sentenced Oaks to compensate Gree Electric for 46 million yuan in economic losses. The amount of this judgment also set a new record for the amount of compensation for patent litigation in the air-conditioning industry.

In addition, some media reports said that Oaks has been digging more than 300 core personnel from R&D and quality inspection departments from Gree in various ways since 2010, and strives to expand its research team. The Sky Eye search also showed that the Oaks Group had as many as 34 lawsuits, mostly related to patent disputes.