In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 154: Suing an international giant, gaining world-wide fame without paying sky-high advertising fees

"Not that serious? Director Wu, the school-enterprise office has been operating for so long, especially after this year's Canton Fair, many products have been exported. Don't you understand the operation of the international market?"

Xie Wei was furious at this moment.

The school is already short of funds.

The School-Enterprise Office saw that the business was becoming increasingly prosperous, and if this matter was not handled properly, everything would come to a halt.

It may even affect schools.

"The market economy is different from that in China. The Western world has always advocated the protection of intellectual property rights..."

Xie Wei gritted his teeth and said.

He had specifically emphasized before that it was not just about Wang Zheng, but also included Wu Tao.

During that period, he would tell the two of them these things whenever he had time. Before they went to Hong Kong to set up a company, he specifically emphasized that even if the company in Hong Kong did nothing, they had to apply for patents for export-related products before exporting.

Without patents, no matter how much foreign exchange is needed, exports cannot be made.

But now...

"Xie Wei, what should we do now? Unicharm Corporation has proposed a huge compensation of 3000 million dollars. This matter has already alarmed the Ministry of Commerce."

Li Rui changed his words to one that was easier for people to accept.

He thought Xie Wei didn't know that when the Japanese companies believed that they had infringed their rights, the first thing they would do was to collect evidence and file a complaint with the Ministry of Commerce. They would not even inform the relevant companies until the Ministry of Commerce found the companies they had sued for infringement. From top to bottom, the result was self-evident.

Moreover, now that the country has undergone reform and opening up, if it wants to integrate with the world market, it must develop towards a market economy.

The construction of intellectual property rights has been carried out almost in parallel with reform and opening up.

After all, intellectual property is one of the important characteristics of a market economy.

"What can we do? Collect information and prepare to sue them in an international court! Are we really going to pay 3000 million dollars in compensation? Let's not talk about whether we have it or not. Even if we do, why should we give it to the Japanese company? Our sanitary napkins have not infringed on any rights, not even borrowed from them!"

Xie Wei was sure of this.

Domestic sanitary napkins appeared on the market ahead of schedule because his younger sister Xie Rou entered her menstrual period. As a brother, Xie Wei thought about the most convenient and common daily necessities for women in a few decades, so he designed them based on future products and technologies.

But now, because Wu Tao did not register international patents for these designs, they were sought after by the Japanese sanitary napkin giants.

"The Ministry of Commerce has been alerted. We don't have any patents. It's very likely that our products have been patented by the Japanese companies. Otherwise, they wouldn't have waited so long. Our products have already gained a certain reputation in the international market before they started to make trouble."

Wang Zheng said with a worried look on his face.

Xie Wei glanced at him. Do you understand now?
What have you been doing!
He didn't even bother to ask Wang Zheng whether he knew that Wu Tao had blocked the patent registration.

After looking at Wang Zheng, Xie Wei turned his gaze to Wu Tao who was looking uneasy at the side, and did not speak.

Obviously, Wu Tao's official career has come to an end.

Even if he wasn't dealt with seriously, he would have to stay in a sinecure for the rest of his life.

Unless there is a major opportunity, new opportunities can be obtained.

He didn't want to tell Wu Tao how to deal with it in front of him.

From the very beginning, Li Rui arranged his assistant to the position of director of the School Enterprise Office in order to control it.

As a result, Wu Tao himself did not live up to his expectations.

"Wu Tao, you are no longer suitable for the position of the School Enterprise Office. The specific handling needs to wait until the school leadership team holds a meeting to discuss and decide. You should go back and prepare to hand over your work to Wang Zheng first."

Li Rui saw Xie Wei's little movements.

Knowing that Xie Wei was expressing his dissatisfaction with him, Principal Li had no choice but to endure it.

My own mistake in hiring the right people has caused such a huge impact.

Wu Tao took a deep breath and looked at the few people. He wanted to say sorry, but he found that these three words were too light and the consequences were too serious. He could only hope that Xie Wei could find a way to solve it. Finally, he bowed deeply to Xie Wei: "Thank you, consultant, I'm sorry to trouble you. I accept any way you deal with me. I hope you can let it go and make up for the losses for the school and the country..."

"roll!"

Li Rui got angry when he heard this.

Not to mention 30 million dollars, even 30 million is a staggering amount of money.

"Thank you Wei..."

After Wu Tao left, Principal Li looked at Xie Wei eagerly, "We can't afford the compensation!"

"What compensation? The Japanese are taking advantage of our unfamiliarity with the market economy to try to extort money from us! Don't say we didn't infringe on others' rights. Even if we did, they can't entangle us because they don't understand the market economy. The other party's purpose is not to seek compensation."

Unicharm Co., Ltd. is a giant in women's personal products.

Products such as sanitary napkins occupy a large market share in the world. At a time when the domestic sanitary napkin industry is just starting out and the market has gradually opened up, it is completely obvious that they are demanding compensation from "Shuermei", which is affiliated to the School-Enterprise Office, on the grounds of infringement.

"Not for compensation? 3000 million dollars is not a small amount."

Li Rui almost laughed out of anger at Xie Wei's words.

If the school had 3000 million dollars, Principal Li would dare to ask the school to add a space station project.

"If we open up the domestic market first, think about how many potential users there are in the country! Although everyone is very poor now, how many people are there in cities? A pack of sanitary napkins sold at 8 yuan in the market is considered very expensive. How many sales do we have just in the vicinity of Harbin?"

At present, the total population of the country is 9.752 million, of which the total female population is 4.735 million, and the total urban population is 1.8495 million. If half of them are women, it is still a huge number of more than 9000 million. Excluding women who have not entered their menstrual period and have already entered menopause, it is still a very large number.

That’s more than the total population of many countries.

“The country doesn’t restrict sanitary napkins from entering the market, right?”

Li Rui was puzzled.

"To import sanitary napkins, we need foreign exchange. The country doesn't even have enough foreign exchange to import advanced technology and equipment, so how can we possibly use it to import sanitary napkins?"

"They can provide equipment and funds to build factories in China..."

Wang Zheng frowned and looked at Xie Wei.

I always feel that Xie Wei's reasons are too far-fetched.

It just doesn't make sense.

"Who doesn't know that our country is poor? Before this, the most advanced product was just the sanitary belt. For capitalists, it is simply impossible to take huge risks without any profit. Moreover, large international companies all adopt the professional manager system. If a professional manager cannot make a profit for the company, who would let him continue to work with a high salary?"

Xie Wei was very clear about this.

The success of Shuermei sanitary napkins not only opened up the market, but also allowed international giants who were already aware of the potential of the Chinese market and were waiting to see huge profits.

Unicharm obviously wants to take this opportunity to enter the domestic market.

Not only do they want their products to enter the domestic market, they also want to eliminate Shulmei, a local brand that suddenly appeared in China, and use Shulmei's factory as their OEM factory. At that time, they will not only be able to provide lower-cost products to the international market, but also take a leading position in the Chinese market.

"But now..."

"Even if they have registered our technology patents, we can just come up with new products and re-establish a brand... They want us to use our factory as compensation, which is impossible! We will just sue them directly."

"Ah~"

When they heard Xie Wei say that he wanted to file an international lawsuit against Unicharm, they were stunned.

He stared at Xie Wei with disbelief.

It was as if I had heard something out of the ordinary.

"Xie Wei, do you know how difficult it is to file an international lawsuit? Moreover, this is the first case since the reform and opening up. Once the lawsuit is filed, it will inevitably attract the attention of the whole world..."

Li Rui reacted quickly and lectured Xie Wei with a stern face. Not to mention that it is difficult to find experienced lawyers who are familiar with international patent law, even if it is easy to find one, international lawsuits are always protracted.

"Xie Wei, this is not a good idea. International lawsuits not only take time, but also cost money."

Wang Zheng and Li Rui have different starting points because of their different identities and status.

In his opinion, Xie Wei's proposal to sue an international giant like Unicharm was simply asking for trouble.

"Without a registered patent, we can't win."

"Even if we can't win, we have to fight!"

Xie Wei smiled, "You could say that this is an opportunity for us to raise our profile! The president just said that this is the first case involving intellectual property rights since the reform and opening up, and the whole world will pay attention to it. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to ask, if we want to advertise in the media around the world, let alone the possibility, how much would it cost just to advertise?"

"what?"

Li Rui was stunned again.

Xie Wei's idea had a huge impact on him.

After being reminded, Li Rui also realized that even though Xie Wei knew he would lose the case, he still insisted on suing. The longer the lawsuit dragged on, the greater the impact on the popularity of Shuermei sanitary napkins.

"But this reputation..."

Wang Zheng still found it hard to accept.

"What reputation? Just let more people know about it. People are curious. We designed and developed it ourselves, but we just didn't register a patent... Besides, the country has just started reform and opening up, and we are a small domestic factory. We didn't even think about exporting, so why would we think about applying for an international patent?"

Xie Wei, who comes from the information age, knows the importance of spreading his reputation.

Whether good or bad.

Especially in the age of Internet celebrities, countless people will do anything to become famous...

For Xie Wei, it was no pressure at all to just sue an international giant.

"During the lawsuit, our production will not be affected. The international market is the one without the patent, and the domestic market will not be affected at all in the short term... Besides, this factory has nothing to do with the school..."

"You were planning to use international giants to build your reputation from the beginning?"

Wang Zheng was stunned again.

When taking over the match factory run by the neighboring street office, Xie Wei asked them to put the factory into a newly registered company. It was transferred several times and nominally had nothing to do with the school or even the school-enterprise office.

Although everyone knows that it is under the School-Enterprise Office.

In the legal sense, it has nothing to do with the school-enterprise office.

"Not really. We did that just to be on the safe side."

Xie Wei said calmly.

"So, I'll just tell the Ministry of Commerce and we'll sue them?"

Li Rui knew that Xie Wei said so much just to get his attitude.

The Ministry of Commerce will definitely stand on the side of domestic enterprises.

There is no infringement per se.

"Yes. You go to the Ministry of Commerce first, and then go with Wang Zheng to talk to Huang Zhijie and Chai Hong of Desheng. We have other patents for sanitary napkins. We can modify the design, reapply for the patent, and then develop a new brand. We already have a plan for this."

"An Erle? The thing with wings?"

Wang Zheng asked Xie Wei.

Xie Wei nodded.

"What's Anle? What has wings?"

Li Rui asked curiously.

Seeing that Xie Wei had no intention of explaining, Wang Zheng took the initiative to explain to Principal Li the plan that Xie Wei had given them before. However, the original plan was to launch a new brand and cultivate mid-to-high-end brands after Shuermei achieved certain market results.

"Okay! Okay! Okay! Now I feel relieved."

The huge crisis that gave Principal Li and others a headache was not even a big deal to Xie Wei.

I was very angry when I first heard it because of Wu Tao's mess.

"Are you planning to let Shulmei sue an international giant? Have you thought about the consequences?"

That night, Du Guowang looked for Xie Wei again.

"Brother Wang is still suitable to be the director of the school-enterprise office. If he does well, his future will be limitless."

Xie Wei did not answer Du Guowang's question, but talked about Wang Zheng's position change.

Isn’t Du Guowang worried about Wang Zheng?
"According to your actions, I'm afraid your future will be bleak!"

Du Guowang looked at Xie Wei unhappily.

When he heard the news that Wu Tao was suspended, he took the initiative to find Wang Zheng to find out the situation, and Wang Zheng did not hide it from him.

"Director Du, it's reform and opening up! At the beginning, everyone had no experience and had to cross the river by feeling the stones. As long as they didn't drown, they could walk back and forth in the river as they pleased. Wang Zheng has his own way, and you can't help guard it for the rest of his life..."

This time, Xie Wei did not explain to Du Guowang in detail as he did in the past.

Without waiting for Du Guowang to answer, Xie Wei said, "I will not interfere with the personnel changes of the School-Enterprise Office. Unless it affects the development of the School-Enterprise Office..."

"..."

Du Guowang was stunned.

"What's wrong with this kid today? He was never like this before."

After Xie Wei left, Du Guowang asked Liang Hongling.

Xie Wei's attitude was really beyond his expectations.

"My brother told me that Xie Wei has been trying to merge some military technology projects, and you asked him to speed up the development of the CNC system..."

Liang Hongling sighed, "Originally, he came to our house and chatted casually, which made him feel relaxed. Now you only come to him when you have something to do, and no matter whether he is busy or not..."

"no?"

Du Guowang's tone was very uncertain.

"Xie Wei is right. Young people have their own paths, and you can't interfere. Although you didn't do it obviously, you never openly forced Xie Wei to switch to the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Do you think Xie Wei, who is so cunning, would not think of it?"

Liang Hongling sighed again.

"This is not like you!"

Du Guowang was surprised at such a big change in his wife's attitude.

"Do you think I'm willing? If I hadn't wanted my son to live his life according to my ideas since he was a child, would the result be what it is now? I was the only one forcing my son before, but what about Xie Wei? Old man Li Rui never concealed it; Yu Guofeng's behavior was also obvious, and even my brother didn't give up; and... don't forget, you went to Rongcheng to pick him up in person before school started!"

Liang Hongling reminded Du Guowang.

Du Guowang fell silent.

A blinding leaf!
I forgot that I was in this mountain.

(End of this chapter)