China home appliance giant embraces stronger protection

GUANGZHOU－Fu Rao, a patent engineer at Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group, has no time for cooking.

But he knows everything there is to know about kitchen ventilators and microwave ovens. Standing in front of a wall of patent certificates, Fu said his job is to clear barriers from other companies to make sure Midea's kitchen products can reach the shelves of any market.

"Protection of intellectual property rights enables us to break through the patent wall built by our competitors and expand our own businesses," he said.

Starting as a rural production division of just 23 members 50 years ago, Midea has grown into a global home appliance giant with annual revenue of nearly 160 billion yuan ($24 billion).

Last year, after taking over German robotics firm Kuka AG and several arms of Japan's Toshiba Corp, Midea announced plans to enter patent-intensive smart industries, including intelligent supply chains, automation and heating ventilation air-conditioning.

Midea applied for more than 13,500 patents in China last year, including 5,500 invention patents.

Sun Mingyan, who works in the legal department, confirmed the company had also stepped up international patent application.

"We will probably encounter major setbacks in the global market if we can't protect our technological assets effectively or manage our intellectual property properly," Sun said.

Midea has invested 20 billion yuan in technology, and research and development, from 2012 to 2016. Most of the funding has gone on patented technologies and 17 R&D centers across the world.

For instance, the core technologies of inverter microwave ovens had long been monopolized by Japanese companies, Fu pointed out. But Midea made a major breakthrough in converter technology last year after continuous R&D investment.

"Concerning converter technologies, Midea has applied for 57 patents, including eight international ones. Midea is becoming a world leader in this field," Fu said.