Data disclosed by the Ministry of Commerce of China on 21st, 2017 shows that from January to November 2017, the bilateral trade volume between China and the United States has reached 527.22 billion U.S. dollars, a significant year-on-year increase of 12.8%, and surpassed the entire year of last year’s 5243. Billion dollars in total trade. The bilateral trade volume between China and the EU reached 556.69 billion U.S. dollars, a significant year-on-year increase of 12.7%. With the further expansion of bilateral trade volume, trade friction incidents will certainly increase unabated.

“337 investigation” sparked a war on Sino-US trade

　　 In 2018, the United States initiated the "337 investigation" on lighting equipment, LED power supplies and their components. Now, as the United States will continue to impose large-scale tariffs on Chinese goods, the United States will continue to spread its impact on March 27. The 337” investigation came again, this time targeting the LED display.

　　 According to the applicant’s document 3302, the Chinese LED display companies involved this time include: Absen, Alto Electronics, Lehman Optoelectronics, Shanghai Sansi Electronics, Unilumin Technology, Yuanheng Optoelectronics, Leyard, Lianchuang Jianhe Optoelectronics is on the list of accused.

　　Associate researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce said that the 337 investigation is a way for the United States to exclude competitors. These trade protection measures are the United States to protect its own industries and prevent products from competing relationships from entering the U.S. market. Now the United States has initiated a 337 investigation against China to restrict China’s exports to the United States, giving the United States a more competitive advantage in the global industrial division of labor.

The following is the publicity of the list of accused LED display companies:

As early as March 6, before the United States announced that it would impose US$50 billion in tariffs on China, Fraen Corporation of the United States filed an application with the U.S. International Trade Commission in accordance with Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, accusing the United States of exporting, The LED lighting equipment and components imported or sold in the United States infringed its patent rights and requested the US International Trade Commission to issue a general exclusion order and prohibition order, including 6 Chinese companies that were sued.

China becomes the country with the most surveys in 337

　　 Statistics show that from 2007 to March 2015, the United States initiated 337 investigations in 362 cases, of which 152 cases involving China, accounting for 42.0%. Earlier, Xinhua News Agency reported that China had become the country with the most 337 surveys for 13 consecutive years. According to statistics, the increase in the number of "337" surveys for China has expanded, as shown in the figure below:

According to statistics, the United States has initiated 337 investigations on Chinese LED products for many years.

　　In 2008, 6 LED companies in Mainland China were prosecuted and 4 of them were included in the ITC“337 investigation” list;

　　In 2012, ZTE, Huawei, Samsung, HTC, LG, etc. rose to 13 companies and were investigated by the United States in 337;

　　 In 2013, China’s Lenovo and MediaTek, South Korea’s LG and Samsung, Japan’s Nintendo, Panasonic, and Toshiba were also subject to 337 investigations.

According to statistics, the United States has so far raised more than 120 301 surveys "Big Stick".

According to the analysis of the Economic Observation Network, the US's "337 investigation" on China was initiated in May and January. June was also the month when the investigation was launched. The investigations against China accounted for all of the US-initiated “337&rdquo ; The proportion of the survey is also rising significantly.

The categories of surveys have also increased. From the table, we can see that the survey of communication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment accounted for as high as 40% in 2017. It also shows that the probability of LED companies being surveyed is increasing. The US“337” investigation is stepping up its investigation of Chinese goods.

Warning from the 337 investigation

　　 Although many 337 investigations, 301 investigations, and patent infringement cases seem to be aimed at upstream areas such as epitaxy and chips, this will also affect downstream companies. For example, once a chip supplier has a dispute, product prices will fluctuate, and even supply interruptions will occur, affecting the normal production of downstream areas.

　　 Due to China's relatively weak industrial foundation and intellectual property rights, Chinese companies often face intellectual property barriers when exporting, especially the investigations and remedies for Chinese LED companies under Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Law.

　　With the increasing pace of enterprises“going out”, how to adapt to the foreign intellectual property environment and safeguard their own interests becomes extremely important. In the future, when LED lighting products go out of the country, we must not move our troops and feed the grass first, that is, we must first make a targeted arrangement of intellectual property rights in the destination country to improve the prevention of overseas intellectual property litigation risks.