Daikin is looking to further ease the take-up of R32 by granting free access to all of its pledged patents filed since 2011.
Access to the patents, which are thought to number around 180, will not require pre-approval from Daikin and no contracts, as are typically required for patent licensing programmes, and no fees. This eliminates complicated processes and provides quick and easy access to the pledged patents.
Daikin launched the first residential equipment in Japan using R32 in 2012, and since then most air conditioning manufacturers have adopted the A2L refrigerant in smaller split systems as a lower GWP alternative to R410A.
While the patents on the production of R32 have long expired, Daikin holds a large number of patents governing the use of the lower GWP refrigerant in air conditioning systems. To facilitate its adoption by other manufacturers, Daikin offered free access to emerging countries in 2011 for the 93 patents filed up to that time. Free access to those patents was then expanded worldwide in 2015. The latest non-assertion pledge applies to all listed patents filed since 2011. It encompasses around 180 patents, mostly relating to safety measures.
Daikin says that, once listed, “a pledged patent will not be removed, and the pledge will not be withdrawn against a party unless that party triggers Daikin’s right of defensive termination by, for example, filing a lawsuit or other legal proceeding alleging patent infringement against single-component HFC-32 equipment provided by Daikin or one of its group companies”.
