Last week, Yitong held its first billiards and table tennis competition. The competition has now concluded, and participants have achieved varying degrees of success. In this competition, I, the editor, with the support and encouragement of our readers, managed to win the championship!

I would like to thank everyone for your support and encouragement. This championship trophy belongs to you as much as it does to me! PS: You can try to guess who the editor is.

To get back to the main topic, I have another announcement for our esteemed readers: Yitong will be organizing a company-wide employee trip on August 5th and 6th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Alright, let's get to the point. Let me take you through the latest developments in the LED industry from last week.

Huati Technology Faces Two Lawsuits from 'Old Enemy': Over 2000 Sets of LED Streetlights Involved in Patent Infringement?

On the evening of July 24th, Huati Technology issued an announcement stating that it had received a civil lawsuit. Guizhou Lishida Lighting Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guizhou Lishida) accused Huati Technology and two other defendants of patent infringement, with an amount in dispute of 32.4206 million yuan. Simultaneously, Huati Technology also disclosed that it received another lawsuit on the same day, with the plaintiff being Guizhou Lishida again.

　　It turns out that the dispute between Guizhou Lishida and Huati Technology has been long-standing, with both parties frequently involved in legal battles in recent years. Guizhou Lishida was once a distributor for Huati Technology, but a rift developed later.

Total Amount in Dispute Exceeds 40 Million

　　According to Huati Technology's disclosure on the evening of the 24th, on July 21st, they received the "Civil Complaint" and related legal documents from the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court. According to the complaint, Guizhou Lishida believes that the streetlights installed in the "Kaili Economic Development Zone Streetlight Lighting Upgrade and Transformation Project" by the Kaili Economic Development Zone Urban and Rural Management Bureau, Jiangsu Chengxu Electric Group Co., Ltd., and Huati Technology are the same as or similar to its appearance design patented products, and therefore filed a lawsuit with the court. The three defendants are the Kaili Economic Development Zone Urban and Rural Management Bureau, Jiangsu Chengxu Electric Group Co., Ltd., and Huati Technology.

　　Guizhou Lishida's claim is:

1. Order the defendants to cease infringing on the plaintiff's appearance design patent;

2. Order the three defendants to jointly compensate Guizhou Lishida for economic losses of 32.4206 million yuan;

3. The defendants jointly bear the litigation fees and plaintiff's legal fees in this case.

　　Huati Technology does not agree with the plaintiff's claim of infringement. Huati Technology stated that the "Kaili Economic Development Zone Streetlight Lighting Upgrade and Transformation Project" requires a total of 2032 sets of streetlight products. These streetlight products are the company's patented products, which have been approved by the State Intellectual Property Office and have obtained the corresponding appearance design patent certificates and are protected by law.

　　In fact, the lawsuit amount of over 40 million yuan is not a small sum for Huati Technology. The company's previous prospectus disclosed that in 2014-2016, the company's net profits attributable to the company's owners were 35.57 million yuan, 42.56 million yuan, and 48.07 million yuan respectively.

　　So, what impact will this lawsuit have on Huati Technology? On July 25th, reporters repeatedly called Huati Technology, but the company's phone remained unanswered. According to Huati Technology's announcement, the impact of this lawsuit on the company's current and future profits is uncertain. However, it claims that the streetlight products involved in the lawsuit are not the company's main products, and this lawsuit will not directly affect the company's daily production and operation.

The Plaintiff Was Once the Company's Distributor

　　Relevant personnel from Guizhou Lishida stated that "Lishida" is a lighting company headquartered in Wenjiang District, Chengdu City, and the Guizhou Lishida involved in this lawsuit is one of its subsidiaries.

　　It turns out that the dispute between Guizhou Lishida and Huati Technology has a long history, with Lishida once being a regional distributor for Huati Technology.

　　Previously, the two parties had been involved in continuous lawsuits and counter-suits due to a contract dispute that began in late 2014.

　　In October 2015, Guizhou Lishida countersued Huati Technology. In the relevant lawsuit documents at that time, Guizhou Lishida stated that it was once Huati Technology's distributor in the Guizhou region. According to two "Lighting Product Sales Contracts" signed in December 2014, Huati Technology provided it with 585 sets of Yulan lamps (later reduced to 583 sets), with 408 sets actually fulfilled (all sold in Gui'an New District). However, some problems occurred during the contract execution, and later both parties took the case to court.

　　On December 30, 2016, the China Judgment Documents Network disclosed a "Second Instance Civil Judgment in a Contract Dispute over the Sale and Purchase of Goods between Sichuan Huati Lighting Technology Co., Ltd. and Guizhou Lishida Lighting Technology Co., Ltd.". According to this civil judgment, Huati Technology was the original plaintiff and counter-defendant; Guizhou Lishida was the original defendant and counter-plaintiff.

　　The judgment made by the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court only upheld the first item of the first instance judgment: Guizhou Lishida shall pay Huati Technology 3.248 million yuan in payment and 0.054 million yuan in interest losses, totaling 3.302 million yuan.

The "13th Five-Year" Plan for the LED Industry is Released, Setting a Trillion-Yuan Output Value Target

　　On July 30, the National Development and Reform Commission and thirteen other ministries and commissions issued the "13th Five-Year Development Plan for the Semiconductor Lighting Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), proposing that by 2020, China's key semiconductor lighting technologies will achieve continuous breakthroughs, forming a trillion-yuan overall output value, cultivating one or more LED lighting companies with sales exceeding 10 billion yuan, and one to two internationally renowned brands.

　　In the view of industry insiders, the "Plan" will effectively solve many current problems in the development of China's LED industry, creating a good industrial environment, especially encouraging mergers and acquisitions among enterprises, which will promote the growth and strengthening of China's LED industry and enterprises.

Focusing on Transformation from Large to Strong

　　With the strong support of the "12th Five-Year" Plan, China has become a major country in the semiconductor lighting industry. The "13th Five-Year Development Plan for the Semiconductor Lighting Industry" puts forward a new goal of "transformation from large to strong", that is, by 2020, the overall output value of the semiconductor lighting industry will reach one trillion yuan.

　　According to the "Plan", by 2020, China's key semiconductor lighting technologies will continuously break through, product quality will continuously improve, and industry concentration will gradually increase, forming one or more LED lighting companies with sales exceeding 10 billion yuan, and cultivating one to two internationally renowned brands and about ten domestically renowned brands. At the same time, it will promote the application of OLED lighting products on a certain scale, laying the foundation for the development of China from a major country to a strong country in the semiconductor lighting industry.

Focus on Key Technologies

　　In the view of industry insiders, China's LED industry is the largest in the world, but it is "large but not strong," lacking well-known brands. More importantly, there are obvious technological shortcomings in basic areas such as materials. In this situation, the "Plan" will help China's LED lighting industry to break through and catch up in key and basic technologies.

　　Specifically, the "Plan" proposes to research semiconductor lighting materials and devices with new concepts, structures, and functions, and to develop and demonstrate innovative semiconductor lighting products and integrated systems for applications in smart lighting, healthcare, and agriculture.

　　The "Plan" targets major common and key technologies such as materials and OLEDs, proposing to promote the industrialization of silicon-based LED key technologies, develop high-efficiency OLED lighting materials, and research new OLED devices and lighting products. Data shows that there are three technical routes in the LED lighting field: sapphire substrate, silicon carbide substrate, and silicon substrate. Among them, silicon-based LED is a route with complete intellectual property rights in China, and its products also have higher luminous efficacy, lower cost advantages, etc.

Encourage mergers and acquisitions

　　The "Plan" proposes to promote industrial upgrading, encourage mergers and acquisitions of LED lighting enterprises, develop strong and internationally competitive leading enterprises, and promote regional industrial cluster and differentiated development.

　　From a global perspective, mergers and acquisitions of large semiconductor lighting companies are constantly occurring, the industry concentration is continuously increasing, and the eastward shift of the industrial pattern is a major trend.

In addition, the "Plan" encourages enterprises to develop and promote smart lighting products suitable for various application scenarios.

LED screens enter the cinema: Can laser projectors defend their throne?

　　In July this year, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. of South Korea announced what it claims is the world's first cinema LED screen, and successfully installed this Cinema LED Screen in the Lotte World Tower in South Korea. Samsung's creative idea of applying LED screens to cinemas breaks the traditional concept of cinemas using projectors. So, is this idea reliable?

You may be a little confused about what exactly Samsung's Cinema LED Screen is, but we can simplify this product.

　　Cinema LED Screen is actually the familiar small-pitch LED splicing large screen, and Samsung's goal this time is to apply small-pitch LED large screen splicing technology to

　　cinemas, and the most basic thing about this idea is that the Cinema LED Screen must meet the current cinema configuration requirements.

　　LED screens enter the cinema: Can laser projectors defend their throne? Cinema LED Screen is actually a small-pitch LED splicing large screen.

　　To create a device suitable for cinemas, we need to start with four elements: screen brightness, resolution, color, and sound, so that the device can bring visual and auditory enjoyment to the audience. Let's analyze the advantages and disadvantages of small-pitch LED screens to see if they can allow Cinema LED Screen to have its own place in the movie projection market.

Advantages of small-pitch LED screens

　　Screen brightness: The screen brightness of cinema films directly affects the user's viewing experience. If the screen brightness is too low, the audience's eyes will be tired when watching movies.

　　The peak brightness of Cinema LED Screen reaches 146fl, which is 10 times higher than the brightness that standard projectors can achieve (usually 14fl). The brighter screen of the LED screen will make the audience feel relaxed. In addition, the LED screen has strong anti-interference ability against ambient light such as natural light.

　　LED screens enter the cinema: Can laser projectors defend their throne? Cinema LED Screen has certain advantages in screen brightness, resolution, and color performance.

Screen resolution: With the development of technology, achieving 4K resolution on display devices is no longer a difficult technology, but due to technical reasons, the cost of 4K resolution devices is still very high and cannot be accepted by most people. Coupled with the limitations of network speed and film sources, the promotion and popularization of 4K resolution have been restricted, but the future popularization of 4K is an inevitable trend. At present, many cinemas use 2K resolution projectors, while 4K resolution projectors are only used in some high-end cinemas. Cinema LED Screen uses 4K resolution, which increases the cost of display devices, but in the long run, with the upgrading of resolution and equipment, the 4K resolution of Cinema LED Screen will not be eliminated, which is also a major advantage of Cinema LED Screen.

　　Color performance: Cinema LED Screen uses RGB three-primary-color light sources (one pixel is composed of 3 LED light-emitting units). Compared with the monochrome and dual-color laser movie projectors currently used in cinemas, LED screens have a greater advantage in screen color performance, and the only projection equipment comparable to it is the three-primary-color laser movie projector. Because three-primary-color laser light source projectors use red, green, and blue lasers as light sources, they are expensive and have not been widely used in cinemas. Only a small number of high-end cinemas use three-primary-color laser light source projectors. This is also an advantage of Samsung's Cinema LED Screen.

Disadvantages of small-pitch LED screens

Viewing distance cannot be too close

　　Each pixel of the LED screen contains red, green, and blue LED light-emitting units. If you look closely, you can still see the small black gaps between the images. In addition, the LED large screen is composed of small LED units. If you look closely, you can also see the physical seams between the units, which will affect the viewing experience. In summary, watching the LED large screen at close range will give people a feeling of "admirable from afar, but untouchable".

Large screen installation is time-consuming and laborious

　　Cinema LED Screen is composed of many LED LCD splicing units. Compared with laser projectors, LED large screens are time-consuming and laborious to splice, and the requirements for splicing technology are also very strict.

Difficult to maintain and prone to screen discoloration

　　The attenuation rate of each LED lamp bead on the LED large screen is different, which will cause the color display of the LED large screen to be inconsistent, resulting in screen discoloration. Moreover, the damage to any color LED lamp on the LED screen will affect the overall visual effect of the screen. If the bulb is replaced, the repair will be difficult. If the LED screen unit is replaced, the maintenance cost of the LED large screen will be increased.