"This Huang He is truly no ordinary opponent. To have deduced so much from just Andy Rubin's words is terrifying!" the old man exclaimed after hearing Hao Jianguo's account.
"If Huang He hadn't entrusted all these matters to me and told me everything, I myself might have started to doubt him!" Hao Jianguo sighed.
"Indeed, this only proves the importance of you as my pawn, and my own brilliance as the player!" the old man said with a touch of pride, which caused Hao Jianguo's expression to turn very grim.
Of course, as they were on the phone, the old man couldn't see Hao Jianguo's expression. But even if he could, he wouldn't have thought much of it. This was the United States, his territory, and Hao Jianguo was incapable of causing any trouble.
"Sir, what should I do next? Should I complete the task Huang He gave me as instructed, or should I cooperate with you to make some changes?" Hao Jianguo asked in a low voice.
"No, you don't need to make any changes. Complete your task well, without any compromise!" the old man quickly replied. "Someone like Huang He trusts no one completely. He will certainly maintain a degree of suspicion towards you, and you will undoubtedly have Huang He's subordinates monitoring you. If you deliberately falter in completing the task, you will alert Huang He, and I will lose you as my pawn!"
"Yes! I understand!" Hao Jianguo nodded, then hesitated before asking, "In that case, how should I handle Huang He's order to investigate the forces behind this?"
"This..." The old man also paused for a moment before saying, "Didn't Huang He ask you to hire the top investigation agencies in the entire United States? Then let them investigate. If they find anything, report it to Huang He truthfully. If they find nothing, it won't be your fault."
"Understood!" Hao Jianguo nodded; this was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.
"However, this means our original plan targeting Android will have to be slightly modified!" the old man sighed. "This Andy Rubin is truly an utter fool. What does it matter if he learns Chinese? 'Impatience in small matters can spoil great plans.' This scoundrel, God will surely despise him!"
Clearly, in the old man's mind, Andy Rubin had already been condemned to death, even though he had offered his betrayal so willingly.
According to the old man's original plan, they were supposed to "sneak into the village and shoot without firing," transferring Android's technology piece by piece to the new company without alerting Huang He, and then quickly applying for patents using his own network, but not disclosing them for the time being.
The old man intended to wait until Jiangnan Group had produced a large quantity of finished products, and then suddenly unveil all the patents he had applied for. This way, all products manufactured by Jiangnan Group would infringe upon his patents, becoming infringing products that could not be sold in the global market.
This would render all the products Jiangnan Group had invested heavily in manufacturing useless. For every unit Jiangnan Group produced, they would incur a loss. According to the data Hao Jianguo had obtained, Jiangnan Group's first batch planned to produce 3 million units of these devices, which Huang He called 'pt.' Even if everything went smoothly, the production cost per unit would be around $600-$700, meaning 3 million units would result in a loss of $1.8 billion, a figure substantial enough to cripple Jiangnan Group and severely damage its cash flow.
After all, Jiangnan Group still had 60 billion RMB in loans to repay domestically. If they lost an additional $1.8 billion, which was equivalent to over 13 billion RMB, Jiangnan Group would definitely face a cash flow crisis, thus creating an opportunity for the old man to intervene in Jiangnan Group.
But all of this was only half-ruined by this scoundrel Andy Rubin. At the very least, Huang He had discovered Andy Rubin's betrayal, and it had become extremely difficult to secretly transfer Android's technology.
Even more troublesome was that Andy Rubin knew that technology was his capital. So, although he had repeatedly claimed to offer his technology to Goldman Sachs over a year ago, the detailed information of this technology was tightly held by himself, and he hadn't applied for patents with any institution. The old man had networks across major patent organizations worldwide, and if Andy Rubin started applying, he would know immediately.
Andy Rubin's actions were naturally due to his own considerations. Firstly, these patents could not be applied for by himself. Because during the patent application period, he was still the CEO of Android, so all applied patents would inevitably belong to the Android company. After all, the evidence was overwhelming. Unless the court completely abandoned the concept of fairness and justice, these patents would belong to the Android company, to Boss Huang himself.
Andy Rubin could only steal this technology and hand it over to a third party to apply for patents, thereby clearing his own name. However, Andy Rubin could not simply hand it over to any third party; it had to be handed over to the old man's people. Otherwise, he would offend both Goldman Sachs and Jiangnan Group simultaneously, and Andy Rubin would have no chance of survival.
But once the patent application rights for this technology were handed over, Andy Rubin would have lost almost all his value. Therefore, Andy Rubin had always wanted to sign a secret agreement with Goldman Sachs to ensure that after handing over the patents, Goldman Sachs would guarantee his interests.
Or, if Goldman Sachs simply paid him $1 billion, he would sell these patents to them. But Goldman Sachs would not agree to either of these proposals. The former, if the secret agreement were exposed, would bring immense scandal to Goldman Sachs, so the possibility of complete collapse might not be high, but companies cooperating with Goldman Sachs globally would become extremely wary of them.
The latter was even more impossible. Goldman Sachs didn't want to give this Andy Rubin a single cent, let alone a billion dollars. So, although Andy Rubin possessed the complete technology, he stubbornly held onto it, refusing to hand it over to anyone.
"No, if this continues, and Huang He finds the technology Andy Rubin has hidden, we will have wasted all our efforts!" the old man said after a period of deep thought.
Currently, he and Huang He were engaged in a fierce struggle, the goal of which was the technical data in Andy Rubin's possession. Whoever could seize this technical data first and register the patents would win this war.
Both sides had their own advantages. Huang He had the legal advantage, meaning as soon as Huang He obtained the technology, he could immediately apply for patents, as this was technology he had funded himself, and no one could prevent him from applying for these patents. Conversely, if the old man obtained these patents and wanted to apply, he would have to use his vast network to create various disguises to give these patents a legitimate appearance.
This process would require considerable time and significant costs.
Goldman Sachs, on the old man's side, had the advantage of operating in the shadows. Huang He didn't know who they were, what methods they had, or even if they had obtained the patents.
At the same time, the old man could utilize his network advantage to conceal the patent applications.
According to the standard patent application procedures, after a patent application is submitted, it is first reviewed by professionals. After the review, it is published. If no individual or company objects to the ownership or validity of the patent during the publication period, the patent can be successfully granted.
The patent publication period is fixed at three months, which cannot be changed. However, the preceding steps could be manipulated.
For example, the review stage allows the institution one to six months for review. If the number of patents requiring review is too high, delaying it to one or two years is not illegal.
During the review period, no patents are publicized, and this is where there is room for manipulation. Goldman Sachs, after obtaining the patents, could immediately apply for them but secretly use their network to indefinitely delay the patent application review.
During this time, the patent application institution could also accept patent applications from Jiangnan Group, so Jiangnan Group would have no idea that someone else had already applied for patents.
Companies cannot begin product manufacturing after receiving patent certificates. To align with product release schedules, products are generally manufactured half a year or even a year in advance. During this period, patents being in review status is very normal.
Imagine this: if Jiangnan Group spent over $2 billion to produce 'pt,' and as they finished producing these 'pt' and prepared for public sale, the patent office simultaneously publicized two patents, with Goldman Sachs' patent submission being earlier. Unless Jiangnan Group could overcome Goldman Sachs' network and present irrefutable evidence, the final patent certification would certainly go to Goldman Sachs, and all 'pt' produced by Jiangnan Group would be prohibited from sale.
This was a near-perfect outcome.
This was the advantage of Goldman Sachs. The old man was diligently pondering how to leverage this advantage to harm Jiangnan Group, especially now that Huang He had already sensed something was amiss.
Fortunately, the old man's experience was sufficient, and he was also sufficiently shameless. Thus, he quickly came up with an idea and smiled as he said to Hao Jianguo, "For this investigation, don't look for other investigation agencies. Go directly to the agencies we control!"
"Ah!" Hao Jianguo was taken aback, then couldn't help but say, "Sir, if our investigation agency doesn't find any results, won't that arouse Huang He's suspicion? Won't that be too obvious?"
"Of course not, because our investigation agency will present solid evidence to have Huang He remove this Andy Rubin from Android!" the old man said with a chuckle.