Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon - Vol 2 Chapter 652
Chapter 652 Seeking for Heaven
Houston, home of the Rockets.
The Lakers visited Houston. Although the game was away, the media generally believed that the Lakers would win the game.
Because the Lakers are the defending champions and the Rockets were one of the five worst teams in the league last season.
However, after entering the game, the OK group was caught off guard.
Francis at his peak played, it is true that people stop killing people, and Buddha stops killing Buddha. In normal games, Bryant was completely beaten by Francis.
However, in this game, Kobe did not feel good, and his shooting percentage was very bad, only a little more than 20%.
O’Neal, another thigh of the Lakers, was a little confused.
Opposite O’Neal, of course, is Chairman Yao, who is still in his first year as a rookie.
In this game, O’Neal scored 31 points and 13 rebounds. In terms of data, he crushed Chairman Yao with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks.
However, out of Chairman Yao’s 6 blocks, 5 were given to O’Neal.
As the No. 1 center in the NBA, he was taken out of five by the same person in a game, which really made O’Neal lose face.
At the very beginning, when O’Neal ate the first hot pot, he felt that it didn’t matter. After all, it was not ashamed to be taken by a person taller than himself.
But when he was taken out for the third time in a row, O’Neal was completely angry.
O’Neal is the No. 1 center in the NBA after all. I’m going to lose my face after being taken three times by a rookie of yours!
So O’Neal was eager to find the scene, and he also wanted to give Chairman Yao a big hot pot, but he quickly discovered that the 2.26-meter big man in front of him was actually playing a fallback jumper!
2 meters 26 fallback jumper, who can take it?
The angry O’Neal had to turn on all his firepower and turned on the full attack mode.
This is also the first Yao Sha matchup. In the end, the defending champion Lakers and last season’s Yubei Rockets scored in overtime, and then the defending champion lost to the Yubei team.
On the sidelines of the game, Li Weidong and James Bond sat side by side.
“Boss, this big man is very popular in Houston!” James Bond said.
“Yeah, since Olajuwon left, Houstonians have been waiting for a second Olajuwon. Now they pin their hopes on Yao.” Li Weidong replied.
James Bond went on to say: “Our other spokesperson, Stoudemire’s data is also very good. This time we chose the right one!”
“Playing next to Nash, the data is always not too bad.” Li Weidong paused, then asked: “How is the situation of the second-place pick?”
“You mean Jay Williams, right?” James Bond thought about it and said, “By the standard of second place, his performance is very average, although there is an occasional wonderful performance, but most of the time It’s all pretty mediocre.”
“Adidas spent 100 million to sign him, I must regret it now!” Li Weidong said with a smile.
“I heard that the German headquarters of Adidas is very dissatisfied with Sony Vaccaro, and they are likely to change the head of North America.”
James Bond went on to say: “And now Adidas is in the midst of a huge patent lawsuit!”
“Tianzu? Is it the core sneaker technology of Adidas?” Li Weidong asked immediately.
“Yes, that’s the one. There may be nearly 100 models of sneakers under Adidas that use Tianzu technology, but now, if the price can’t be negotiated, Adidas may lose Tianzu.” James Bond explained .
“What’s going on, tell me in detail.” Li Weidong said.
So James Bond explained; “Actually, the original technology of Tianzu does not belong to Adidas. The person who invented Tianzu is named Frampton Ellis, who used to be a track and field athlete at Duke University.
Ellis once had to say goodbye to his sports career because of an ankle injury, so he decided to invent a safe and stable shoe to protect the feet of athletes.
Ellis found in his research that human beings with bare feet are more stable than when wearing shoes, so after three years of research, he made a barefoot sole technology and applied for a patent.
Later, Adidas obtained the patent use rights of bare feet from Ellis, and made improvements. While imitating the state of human bare feet, the outer edge of the traditional rolling unloading was increased, so that the deflection angle of the ankle during the movement was reduced and the stability was enhanced. sex.
Then there are modules set up on multiple key points to form a dynamic stability triangle on the forefoot, so that the entire foot will be in a natural state similar to bare feet, which is the natural foot.
Adidas officially released the “Tianzu” technology in 1996. From 1997 to 2001, Adidas released more than 100 sports shoes with Tianzu technology. Not only basketball shoes, but also tennis shoes, running shoes, etc. are equipped with natural foot technology.
But the patent license between Adidas and Ellis expired in 2001, and then the two parties did not reach an agreement on the renewal of the contract, so they went to court against Bo, and the lawsuit is still ongoing. ”
“Is it because the licensing fee has not been negotiated?” Li Weidong asked.
“The licensing fee is the main reason.” James Bond went on to explain: “When Ellis licensed the barefoot technology to Adidas, he didn’t expect that the sky feet would become the signature of Adidas.
Therefore, Ellis felt that the original licensing fee was too low, and he suffered a big loss. Therefore, during the renewal negotiations, the lion opened his mouth and asked for a very high price. Although I don’t know Ellis’ specific quotation, but according to According to the grapevine, Ellis wants $100 million in licensing fees. ”
“One hundred million dollars?” Li Weidong thought about it and said, “Tianzu’s sneakers are selling so well, in terms of the sales of the Tianzu series, one hundred million dollars is not expensive.”
“$100 million a year!” James Bond added.
“Then this is really a lion’s mouth! Such a high price, even if Adidas is rich and rich, it is impossible to agree.” Li Weidong said.
“But Ellis believes that Tianzu is the core product of Adidas, so Adidas will never give up Tianzu, so even if he opens his mouth, Adidas must eventually compromise.”
James Bond paused, then introduced: “But Adidas is not easy to deal with, they went directly to apply for Tianzu’s patent.”
“Wait a minute, isn’t Tianzu’s patent in Ellis’ hands?” Li Weidong asked immediately.
“Accurately speaking, Ellis has a patent for bare feet, and Adidas believes that the natural feet they use have made many modifications to the original bare feet patent, which is completely different from bare feet and is a new type of patent. Lis naturally does not agree with Adidas’s statement, so the two sides will go to court against Bo.” James Bond explained.
…
In the 1970s, Adidas beat Converse and became the world’s No. 1 sports brand.
However, since Nike signed Jordan, it has risen rapidly. By the early 1990s, Nike had surpassed Adidas and stood on the throne of the world’s number one.
And Adidas in that era did fall into a low ebb. It was defeated by Nike in the North American market, and faced the double attack of Puma and Nike in the European market. The days are quite sad.
At that time, Adidas had just abandoned the classic clover logo, and the well-known three-bar logo had not yet been formed, so it was in a state of “bald head”.
Even on such important occasions as the World Cup, the jerseys of the teams sponsored by Adidas only have the English letters of Adidas and no Adidas logo.
People thought that Adidas, a time-honored brand, would fall into decline, but the advent of “Tianzu” made Adidas a successful turnaround.
At that time, the most talked about was Nike’s Zoom series. However, after the advent of the Tianzu series, the mantra of American sneaker lovers changed from “Are you wearing Zoom?” to “Are you wearing Tianzu?”
The early days of the foot also have many shortcomings, such as excessive weight, such as not wear-resistant, but these are finally solved as Adidas uses more new materials.
Nike’s Zoom series, which had high hopes, could not resist Tianzu’s offensive at all. They had to come up with Shox technology in advance to fight against Adidas’ Tianzu.
It can be said that it is precisely because of the advent of the Tianzu series that Adidas, which has fallen into the quagmire, will be reborn.
But unfortunately, the lawsuit between Adidas and Ellis ended up ruining Tianzu.
Ellis felt that he was earning less, and the lion opened his mouth in the patent renewal negotiation.
Adidas simply denied the account, saying that my Tianzu is not your patent, and wanted to bypass Ellis’ patent right.
This lawsuit lasted for two years. Although it ended in mediation, it was ultimately a lose-lose situation. Adidas gave up the Tianzu series, and Ellis did not get a penny.
It was not until the barefoot technology passed the patent protection period that Adidas resurrected Tianzu.
Nike is also relieved. If Adidas hadn’t lost its natural feet, Nike’s immature Shox technology might have been overtaken by Adidas.
…
James Bond’s introduction made Li Weidong fall into contemplation.
The current Feiyue sneakers, although the sales are good, the spokespersons are also very top, but there is no core technology that can be used.
Nike has its famous air cushion technology and new Zoom technology. Even the Shox technology that has been criticized by others is quite famous.
The core technologies of Adidas are adiPRENE, A3 structure shock absorption, and the famous BOOST technology of stepping on shit.
Even domestic brands have independently developed some core technologies in later generations, such as Anta’s energy ring and Li Ning’s Li Ning bow.
If Feiyue Sports wants to go on in this industry, it must have a core technology that it can handle.
If you rely on your own research and development, it is difficult to come up with a decent technology without ten or eight years.
So Li Weidong set his sights on Tianzu!
Tianzu is famous enough and sells very well. If you bring it over, it can be directly used as the core technology of Feiyue Sports.
Li Weidong said, “James, I am very interested in this technology. I will try to contact Ellis and ask about the patent licensing fee.”
“He wants 100 million US dollars a year. Even if it is a 30% discount, we can’t afford it. If there is so much money, we might as well develop it ourselves.” James Bond said.
“We can give him a share. For example, by licensing the patent to us, we will give him a certain percentage of the profit for every pair of sneakers with the Tianzu patent.” Li Weidong said.
“Okay, I’ll try to get in touch with Ellis.” James Bond then asked: “How much is this percentage more appropriate?”
Li Weidong asked, “How long will the Tianzu patent in Ellis’ hands expire?”
James Bond replied: “Ellis’s patent was applied for in 1991, and then he signed a ten-year patent license with Adidas, which expired in 2001, and the lawsuit between the two sides started from then.
The patent law of the United States stipulates that the validity period of non-design patents is 20 years, so Ellis’s patent should expire in 2011. ”
Li Weidong nodded, pondered for a while and then said, “The maximum profit cannot exceed 25%.”
For the sake of Tianzu technology, Li Weidong is willing to give a quarter of the profit, which is already a very sincere price.
…
A few days later, Li Weidong received a reply from James Bond.
“That Ellis is really greedy. He asked for 70% of the profit as a patent licensing fee, and then I talked to him about 50%, and the negotiation couldn’t go on. I think it’s hard for him to lower the price, after all, he Dare to ask Adias for $100 million a year!” James Bond said.
“Fifty percent, it’s really whimsical!” Li Weidong snorted coldly.
50% also means that every time Feiyue Sports sells a pair of shoes with Tianzu technology, it must give half of the profit to Ellis.
If it is a new patent in the high-tech industry, that’s all, a sneaker patent more than ten years ago, and want to enjoy 50% of the profit, is simply a dream!
I have to say that Ellis is too greedy.
Put another way, if Ellis was not greedy, he would have reached an agreement with Adidas long ago, and the Tianzu series would not be ruined.
Just listen to Li Weidong said: “50% is definitely impossible. Since Ellis is not willing to lower the price, then I will find a way to force him to lower the price.”
“Boss, what should we do?” James Bond asked immediately.
“You first help me with two things. First, reveal to the media that we Feiyue Sports intend to purchase the patent rights of Tianzu, and now we have entered the substantive negotiation stage.
Second, you design a sneaker with natural foot technology as soon as possible. Remember, this shoe does not need to be very practical, but it must be fashionable enough. “Li Weidong said.
“Okay, boss!” James Bond agreed without hesitation.
When it comes to making trendy shoes, James Bond is definitely doing his part.
Then, Li Weidong called the Jinjiang sneaker factory.
“Hey, Boss Huang, I’m Li Weidong! I want to ask you for help with something. Do you know someone who sells fake shoes?”
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(end of this chapter)