Abstract
As early as 2000, EPD has been prepared to enter the commercial stage. However it was the time the industry of TFT-LCD growing up rapidly that deprived of the investment of EPD. In the end of 2007, Amazon launched the Kindle e-book and accessed a tremendous response from the market. The e-paper market seems to be marching into another peak following Amazon Kindle e-book. IEK market report in 2010 is optimistic that the main product of e-paper “e-book”, and pointed that future shipments will show continuing growth. By 2018, the worldwide market value of e-Book will reach ten billion U.S. dollars. The technology of EPD most focuses on Electrophoretic Display, which accounted for over ninety percent of the global market as of 2010. Electrophoretic Display mainly developed by three companies, including Micro-Encapsulated Electronic Ink by E ink, Microcup by Sipix and Quick-response Liquid-powder (QR-LPD) by Bridgestone. There is ongoing competition among these manufacturers to provide full-color ability and any kinds of application. We hope go through this research, including patent analysis and patent information of EPD industry, to explore the enterprise R&D capability and further infer their future influence in EPD industry. This study is carried out not just on the firm-level, but also on the industry-level. By analyzing patent information, we hope to provide an investment reference for new entrant who has the willing to enter into the e-paper industry.