Fu Guangzheng returned back a few days after leaving Beijing.
“What are you here again?” Feng Yu asked in a not so nice tone.
Fu Guangzheng was confused. He did not offend Feng Yu. He had already set up the sales team, and the market research had been completed.
He had also gotten the rights for the movies and music in Hong Kong. He had also contacted the companies in the US and Europe. He had done everything within a few days and yet Feng Yu was speaking to him in this tone?
“You are in a bad mood? What happened?”
Fu Guangzheng does not know that today was a weekend and Feng Yu had a date with Li Na. Li Na’s period was next week, and Feng Yu could not do anything with her next week. Li Na had agreed to this date today, but because of Fu Guangzheng, Feng Yu had to postpone the date.
Feng Yu waved his hand: “I am just in a bad mood. Something bad must have happened for you to be here.”
Feng Yu just pushed the blame to Fu Guangzheng. He will not admit that it was his fault.
Fu Guangzheng smiled bitterly: “I have some bad news for you!”
d.a.m.n, there was really bad news.
All the businesses that Feng Yu worked with Fu Guangzheng were all his most profitable businesses. Feng Yu does not want anything wrong to happen to these businesses.
“What bad news?”
“Our company is being sued. Errmmm…. I think Tai Hua trading will also be sued soon!”
Huh? Tai Hua Trading will be sued? Fu Guangzheng sales company will also be sued? That means it must be related to the humidifiers or the bladeless fans.
“Is it the humidifiers or the bladeless fans? Are there any problems with the quality?” Feng Yu frowned. These two products did not encounter any problems in his previous life. How come when he produced these products, he faces these problems? It must be those people at the Aviation Factory who had missed out on something during the development stage!
“There is no problem with the quality. They are suing us for creating a monopoly!”
s.h.i.t, monopoly?
Feng Yu was frustrated. He had applied for the patents, and this was to prevent others from imitating his products. He wants to create a monopoly to maximize his profits. He had forgotten about the Ant.i.trust laws in the western countries. Monopolies were not allowed in those countries.
“Will we lose this case? How much will we be fined?” Feng Yu listlessly asked.
Fu Guangzheng was curious. There was no such law in China and how come Feng Yu was willing to accept this news? How did he know about the fines for companies that created monopolies in the Western countries?
“Who says we will lose? We will not lose this case, and we might even make use of this lawsuit to create publicity!” Fu Guangzheng proudly said.
Feng Yu’s mood was like a roller coaster. Win against an Ant.i.trust lawsuit?
In his previous life, no companies had won against an Ant.i.trust lawsuit. Many MNC, including those from Fortune 500, had paid hefty fines. Typically, when people start a lawsuit, they must have collected concrete evidence. He had never heard of any companies that were being sued for creating monopolies and still won the case.
“We can win? Then are they stupid? Why are they still suing us?” Feng Yu asked.
Fu Guangzheng nearly spits out his tea. This Feng Yu changed his att.i.tude so fast.
“The Ant.i.trust laws stipulates some scenarios that const.i.tute a monopoly: Buying and controlling the stocks of other firms to weaken the compet.i.tors; Entering the boards of compet.i.tors’ companies, for example, being the director of several competing companies; Tying the sales of two products. By tying the sales of a second product to the first and forcing consumers to buy something that they may not need or want is a violation of the ant.i.trust laws; Pricing discrimination. That is selling the same product at different prices to different buyers to keeping compet.i.tors out of the market; Business activities that will substantially weaken compet.i.tion or to establish a monopoly……”
Feng Yu listened to Fu Guangzheng carefully. It seems that the patent owned by Wind and Rain had created a monopoly and was the cause of this lawsuit.
But Feng Yu was still protected by his patents, and this was considered a monopoly?
Feng Yu now understands why so many companies in his previous life were willing to exchange patents with other companies. This was to prevent their company from being sued with the Ant.i.trust laws.
You claimed that I had monopolized this technology? But I had sold this technology to others, and because they don’t produce the products, I need to sell to others?
“It seems that we had violated this law. Then why did you say we can win this case?” Feng Yu become listless again.
“They sued us for monopolizing this technology, and our products are priced too high. However, we did not stop any compet.i.tors from entering the market, and we did not fix the prices. We also do not tie up our products with other product. We only increased the difficulties for compet.i.tors to enter the market. If we sell our patents to another company and let them produce and sell to the Western companies, then they cannot sue us. Also, an Ant.i.trust lawsuit will take at least 1 year. During this period, we can let another company sell their products on the market there, and we will win!” Fu Guangzheng said.
d.a.m.n, you mean that we create a compet.i.tor for ourselves? Which idiot come up with this stupid law?
Feng Yu had not thought that his Wind and Rain humidifiers and bladeless fans were selling throughout the US and Europe market. No other companies can enter this market.
Feng Yu was lucky that he did not develop industrial humidifiers. If he had done so, he would be sued a long time ago!
“Do we have other solutions?” Feng Yu does not want to let go of these profits. The overseas sales for his humidifiers and bladeless fans had brought him nearly 30 million USD in profits. As the market grows, this profit will increase further. When the patent protection is over, he would still be able to keep the majority of the market share with his established brand. There will still be high profits. He does not want to share his earnings with others.
I had only produced Ultra Sonic humidifiers, and you can sell thermal humidifiers, or electric humidifiers, cold mist humidifiers, etc. I did not monopolize the market.
You can sell regular fans or air conditioners, and I sell my bladeless fans. Why is this considered a monopoly?
“Yes, there is another solution. We can let others create imitations of our products, and we sue them for infringing on our copyrights. This will divert the attention from us. For instance, we can expose some of our patents to our compet.i.tors and let them produce the products. We will sue them after that.”
Feng Yu: “……” What stupid idea is this? I would rather create a compet.i.tor for myself.
Feng Yu suddenly remembered YADU. China’s biggest humidifier manufacturer from his previous life. Feng Yu had s.n.a.t.c.hed the household humidifier market from them in this life. Why can’t this YADU develop some new products? In China. YADU was still the leader of the industrial humidifiers.
Furthermore, the biggest humidifier company in the world was a US company. Why they did not develop new products?
Since we are being sued for monopolizing the market, then I will really monopolize the market.
“Go and contact YADU. Tell them that we are willing to share our technologies!”