Why the app was "patent trolls" prosecuted? Too rich-Tencent Tencent, micro letters patent trolls-IT information

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Halfway through until June, there have been ZTE and Huawei are United States sued, the app was not spared, United States a company called Uniloc sued on the grounds that micro-voice group chat, video chat function violated two of its patents associated with teleconferencing technology, the company calls micro-letter to immediately suspend them.

Under normal circumstances, prosecution is nothing more than the results of two, one is losing the prosecution reached an agreement to pay the costs of reconciliation, the second was canceled by the prosecution function. However, for micro-letter, these two conditions are not so good.

It is understood that Uniloc what insiders call "patent trolls", is a company that specializes in licensing matters. Does not manufacture its own patented products or patented service, but from other companies, or individual inventors hands ownership of the patent or the right to, and specifically through patent litigation to make huge profits.

The company has in the United States about 200 cases of patent litigation, has sued Microsoft in 2009 for a gun and red, Microsoft instead of after six years of struggle, ruled by the Court as to the compensation of 388 million Yuan, in addition to Facebook, Line as well as the familiar "fruit Ninja" games has been Uniloc complains. Similarly, on June 3 of this year, has been media reports of "China's Huawei is United States Sue" issue, the prosecution is Uniloc.

A few days ago, Uniloc alleged in the indictment submitted to the Court, Tencent "little letter" group voice messaging and group video chat function in violation of Uniloc holds 2 patents associated with teleconferencing systems. Uniloc asked the Court to confirm that Tencent micro-two applications for patent infringement, compensate the loss, to the company to terminate infringement of patents.

From Uniloc's "achievements", Tencent this war will be difficult. If the Uniloc company won, cause the function to be done away with, micro-message of the letter, expression, voice, video and other features, will be affected to a certain extent, resulting in a loss of micro-credit is possible. Tencent is also possible to pay fees, reached a settlement with the Uniloc company and case but Uniloc sued before other companies, app the expenses were not expected to be a small number. If the end result is that, at that time did not know free app also allows users to use voice, video, and other functions.

About this app is the reason prosecution, industry analysts believe that may be related to micro-business is expanding rapidly. It is reported that the night of May 27, Tencent group shares, eventually closing up 4.52% to HK $ 171.2/share, its highest level since going public in June 2004, market capitalisation of HK $ 1.6104 trillion. Industry forecasts, Tencent will be exceeded in 2017 China industrial and commercial bank, becoming the first Chinese; in 2020 will be beyond Facebook as the world's first .

If that's the case, can only show companies, Chinese companies in the United States growing influence, international efforts have become increasingly powerful. However, continuous for patent prosecution, also reminded us to be forward, even more cautious .

Tencent said as of today, have not received the indictment, there was no corresponding response, and once received, will actively respond to such action.

微信为何被“专利流氓”起诉？腾讯太有钱 - 腾讯,微信,专利流氓 - IT资讯

相关阅读：《出海就遇专利流氓：微信国际化暗藏风险》

六月才刚刚过半，就已经相继有中兴、华为被美国起诉，此次微信也未能幸免，被美国一家叫Uniloc的公司起诉，理由是微信的语音群聊、视频聊天等功能侵犯其两项与电话会议技术相关的专利，该公司要求微信立即中止这些功能。

一般情况下，被起诉的结果无非两种，一是败诉方向起诉方支付费用达成协议和解，二是被起诉功能取消。不过，对于微信来说，这两种情况都不容乐观。

据了解，Uniloc被业内人士称为“专利流氓”，是一家专门从事专利授权事务的的公司。其本身并不制造专利产品或者提供专利服务，而是从其他公司、或个人发明者手上购买专利的所有权或使用权，然后专门通过专利诉讼赚取巨额利润。

该公司已经在美国发起约200起专利诉讼，曾在2009年因起诉微软一炮而红，微软与其苦斗六年后，被法院判定向其赔偿3.88亿元，此外，Facebook、Line以及大家所熟悉的“水果忍者”游戏都曾被Uniloc控诉。同样，今年的6月3日，曾被媒体报道的“中国华为被美国起诉”一事，起诉方也是Uniloc。

日前，Uniloc在向法院递交的起诉书中指称，腾讯“微信”中的语音群聊及视频群聊功能侵犯了Uniloc持有的与电话会议系统相关的2件专利。Uniloc要求法院确认腾讯微信两大应用功能对其专利侵权，赔偿其损失，要求腾讯终止使用侵权专利等。

从Uniloc的“战绩”来看，腾讯这一战将会比较艰难。如果Uniloc公司胜诉，导致该功能被取消的话，微信的发消息、发表情、发语音、发视频等功能，都会受到一定程度的影响，从而导致微信用户流失也是有可能的。还有一种可能就是腾讯向其支付费用，与Uniloc公司达成和解协议，但就之前Uniloc起诉其他公司的案例来看，预计微信所支付的费用不会是小额数目。如果最终结果是这样，那时不知微信是否还允许用户免费使用发语音、视频等功能。

关于此次微信被起诉的原因，业内人士分析认为，可能与微信业务扩展迅速有关。据悉，5月27日晚，腾讯集团股价大涨，最终收盘时上涨4.52%至171.2港元/股，创下2004年6月上市以来的最高水平，市值达到16104亿港币。业内预测，腾讯将在2017年超越国内工商银行，成为中国第一；将在2020年超越Facebook，成为世界第一。

如果真是这样的话，只能说明树大招风，中国企业在美国的影响力与日俱增，国际化力度已经日益强大。不过，连续的因专利被起诉，也提醒我们不能只顾前行，还要更小心谨慎。

腾讯方面表示，截止今天，还未收到起诉书，因此并未作出相应的应对方案，而一旦收到起诉书，将积极应对此类诉讼。