From "Made in China" to "Created in China": Tiangang Responds to Solvay's Patent Litigation in China

2019-02-23 09:33:13 HC Plastics Network   

    HC Plastics Network news: From "Made in China" to "Created in China," Tiangang Auxiliary actively responds to the patent litigation filed by Solvay in China.

    Recently, news of "Solvay filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Tiangang in China" emerged. Tiangang confirmed that it had received a letter from lawyers representing Solvay through its wholly-owned subsidiary "Cytec Industries Inc." Although no formal court notice has yet been received, Tiangang has made active preparations to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of a technology-based innovative enterprise.

    Liu Gang, Deputy General Manager of Tiangang Auxiliary, explained: "Cytec did indeed make contact with us regarding this matter in the first half of 2018. Tiangang^® T-68 is an innovative light stabilizer product that embodies a large amount of original technology and has been developed over many years. It adopts an original basic chemical structure with independent intellectual property rights and is not covered by the scope of the patent claimed by that company. Therefore, we promptly and amicably informed the company that Tiangang^® T-68 does not infringe any of its patents, and we hope the other party will conduct a further confirmation to ascertain the necessity of further action."

    A light stabilizer is an additive used in polymer materials that, with a very low addition level, can significantly extend the service life of polymer products. It has a certain technical threshold and is demanding on material performance. The product at the center of this patent litigation is a high-performance acid-resistant light stabilizer that Tiangang developed over many years for applications such as China's agricultural greenhouse films. Its core component is a newly developed chemical structure with independent intellectual property rights; it has not only been granted an invention patent in the relevant field but also obtained an independent Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry number awarded by the American Chemical Society.

    Agricultural greenhouse film is an important material for increasing yields and incomes in China's facility agriculture. Unlike abroad, China's greenhouse films are relatively thin and pesticide use has been increasing year by year. The thinner the film, the more efficient the light stabilizer must be to ensure service life, while the typically acidic pesticides precisely cause traditional light stabilizers to fail. In the field of high-performance acid-resistant pesticide light stabilizers, only a few foreign companies have long held the technology. The high monopoly prices have severely constrained the spread of the technology and limited the development of facility horticulture. Therefore, developing a high-performance acid-resistant light stabilizer to reduce the losses to farmers caused by accidental film breakage and create positive value for China's facility horticulture technological progress has become an urgent problem to solve.

    Liu Gang added that Tiangang, a leading high-tech enterprise in China's light stabilizer field, launched the project in 2007 and began R&D on a new chemical structure. After laboratory structure R&D, formulation screening, pilot tests, artificial accelerated aging experiments, and continuous optimization of formulation and structure, it entered the field application experimental stage of large-scale greenhouse film trials starting in 2010. Only after years of field application experiments and positive results was the Tiangang^® HS-625, Tiangang^® T-68, and Tiangang^® T-69 series of acid-resistant high-performance light stabilizers for agricultural greenhouse films finally launched to the market. This series has been highly praised by the market, and its application effect has reached or exceeded the level of internationally advanced products, fully proving the potential of Chinese fine-chemical enterprises to transform from "Made in China" to "Created in China."

    Similar to the chip or pharmaceutical industries, high-end technology and products have long been blocked by foreign companies through patent-pool strategies. As a latecomer, domestic enterprises need to break through layers of resistance to achieve innovation. Therefore, at the very beginning of its R&D, Tiangang carefully studied the existing patents of major companies, and finally decided to achieve a breakthrough in existing patent restrictions through basic innovation in chemical structure, successfully obtaining independent intellectual property rights. To date, it has been granted nine invention patents in this field, newly obtained two independent CAS registry numbers awarded by the American Chemical Society, and has 16 invention patents published for notice, and has repeatedly won intellectual-property and innovation-related awards from relevant government departments.

    Liu Gang concluded that Tiangang attaches great importance to the protection and management of intellectual property rights, and also welcomes different voices from foreign enterprises regarding our work on intellectual property protection. It should be said that the more a company's technology aligns with international advanced levels, the more likely it is to encounter friction with world-leading enterprises in intellectual property. As a high-tech enterprise with strong independent innovation capability and rapid development, Tiangang Auxiliary hopes that through this "exchange" with an international first-class enterprise, it will further promote the building of its intellectual property management and protection capabilities, accumulate valuable experience, and at the same time resolutely defend the company's legitimate rights and interests.

Editor: Ye Dan