China's LED lighting industry has made tremendous development and progress.

　　Recently, the biennial Light+Building 2014 Frankfurt International Lighting Exhibition was grandly held at the Frankfurt International Exhibition Center in Germany. However, a major incident at the exhibition venue made "all exhibitors" cautious — Osram's patent executives conducted on-site inspections, and two Chinese companies were "removed from the exhibition." The incident caused an enormous response in China.

　　"Made in China" has historically been called the "Beast of the Far East" by the West. Behind this metaphor, on the one hand it suggests the "fierce" power of "Made in China" in the eyes of the Western world, while on the other hand it suggests the "barbarism" and coarseness of "Made in China" as seen by the Western world.

　　For a long time, although China has gained considerable business opportunities thanks to its manufacturing capabilities, it has also faced vigilance and exclusion from the international market because of its "copying" capabilities. Although China's manufacturing industry has provided a massive amount of OEM services to industries worldwide, profits have been dragged down by its own disorderly competition and price wars, creating a vicious cycle of low margins, with little room left for innovation, patent protection, and the enforcement of rights. Undoubtedly, the "surrogate" model can hardly "nurture" first-class enterprises, let alone brand building.

Innovation is the core of enterprise development, and patents serve as an umbrella protecting one's own innovative technological breakthroughs. So what are the views of industry insiders and outsiders on innovation and patents?

Intellectual property services span the various stages of IP creation, utilization, protection, and management, involving the 'acquisition, exercise, and enforcement of rights' for various types of intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and new plant varieties. They play an important role in promoting the legalization, commercialization, and industrialization of intellectual achievements, supporting the 'going out' strategy, and creating an 'upgrade' of the Chinese economy.

"I am 100% confident that China will tear off the 'shanzhai' (counterfeit) label."

— Tian Lipu, former director of the State Intellectual Property Office, noted that intellectual property intermediary services are complex, professional service activities integrating law, technology, and business management. In recent years, with the implementation of the national intellectual property strategy, although the capacity and level of IP intermediary services still find it difficult to meet new development needs, compared with the state he described in 2006 during a media interview that 'currently the number of enterprises in our country with independent intellectual property rights is too small; many enterprises are in a state of having manufacturing without creation, having property rights without knowledge, and even living by imitation,' there has undoubtedly been a tremendous improvement.

The building of independent innovation capabilities and strategic planning of intellectual property for lighting enterprises is the only path to becoming stronger and larger.

— Netizen 'Baihong Innovation' believes that with the joint efforts of relevant institutions and enterprises, once patents are truly valued and implemented, enterprises will gain core competitive advantages and guarantees for sustainable development.

China's LED industry needs to learn to leverage the rules, and enterprises should possess a realistic awareness of intellectual property rights and a long-term capacity for independent innovation. By gradually transforming 'Made in China' into 'Created in China' through these trials, the development of LED in China will reach the next level.

— The 'minor episode' of Chinese enterprises being 'removed from the exhibition' at this year's Frankfurt Lighting Exhibition has drawn attention from the industry. In response, Yin Kang, Managing Director of Teqiushi Optoelectronics Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., expressed his views.

Yin Kang believes that China's lighting enterprises have made tremendous progress in their development, and the country also ranks relatively high in terms of patent quantity. However, why has the pace of development not seen substantial improvement? This is mainly determined by domestic consumption capacity, combined with weak national awareness of patent protection, resulting in limited profits and causing many enterprises to shy away. "Yet future events cannot be predicted — as market consumption capacity rises and protection awareness strengthens, it remains unknown whether the development of innovative patents will accelerate."