After all the talking, the most important thing is to look at the contract.
A draft of this version of the contract has been issued before.
Just by flipping through one page of the contract, you can already feel Robin Li's sincerity, or his intention to win over.
Because this contract is a technical service contract, not a technology transfer contract.
The difference between the two is still very big. The technical service contract means that the YOLO algorithm is only provided by Meng Fanqi with technical support for Baidu. He can still continue to use and enjoy all the rights and interests as the inventor of the algorithm.
The most critical points of this contract are the confidentiality clause, the acceptance part, the income distribution clause, and the liability for breach of contract.
It is best to understand the confidentiality clause. Baidu is willing to pay a lot of money to obtain the technical services of Meng Fanqi's YOLO algorithm, although Robin Li did not choose the form of direct technology transfer in order to make himself a good friend.
However, in the confidentiality clause, there are still many restrictions on myself in this regard, which is understandable. Otherwise, whiteness would not be a charity.
The terms stipulate that Meng Fanqi shall not publish any details related to YOLO technology before June 2014, and shall not open source this part of the code before December 2014. When publishing papers and codes, they need to be published jointly with Baidu.
Meng Fanqi can completely accept this. The reason why Baidu only limits the time points from June to December is that such a long time is enough for Baidu to productize and occupy the market, forming certain technical and industrial barriers.
The second reason is that by that time, the technology announcement will gain popularity and increase the popularity and attention of this community. To put it bluntly, it is to let the vast number of technology enthusiasts work for Baidu.
Meng Fanqi himself retains the rights of the inventor of the technology, but before December 2014, he must ensure that he can only provide the technology to his company, and the company must not engage in any domestic testing-related business.
"This article mainly restricts me from reselling multiple times. I have no such intention. If I join Google, Google will not have any business or plans in this area in China." Meng Fanqi felt that this restriction was reasonable and would have no impact on him.
"In the acceptance clause, you have just shown us the capabilities of the algorithm in an internationally recognized data set and in the form of real-time detection with an external camera. In fact, the acceptance has basically been completed." Li Yanhong saw him flipping through the acceptance clause. part, he spoke out.
"But considering that we use this technology and have our own needs and usage scenarios, this part of the data is not public now, and you don't have enough resources to do testing. Therefore, for this part of the most important performance results, we still need some Only time will confirm.”
Meng Fanqi nodded to express his understanding. Baidu has naturally accumulated a relatively large amount of data. It is difficult for his current assembly machine to afford this content. "According to the verification results of this part of the data, it will have a certain impact on our final revenue sharing." right."
"Yes, we have tested the current first-class algorithms on internal data. After we review your code and complete the test on it, we will give it a final evaluation based on the comprehensive situation."
The subsequent income distribution terms are relatively fair and open, which is reassuring.
It is preset on it, what interval the YOLO algorithm reaches will correspond to what division.
If Meng Fanqi has objections to the final Baidu test results and feels that there are false elements, Baidu will also allow Meng Fanqi to come to the headquarters for training and reasoning operations.
In this case, there is basically no problem, right?
Meng Fanqi carefully looked through several sources of income that he could generate, and they were basically the same as what he had talked about verbally last time.
In the short term, a certain proportion of the R&D funds and equipment funds saved will be drawn from the commission. In the long term, services and apps that are the core technology of the YOLO algorithm will continue to draw a proportional share.
If the algorithm is not updated and maintained, it will decline year by year. If you continue to assist the whiteness optimization algorithm, it will remain unchanged or even increase.
As for the popularity and attention brought by the algorithm, there are also very detailed corresponding calculation methods, including how to calculate different data from different websites.
The frequency of settlement is once a quarter, and the income that should be distributed is settled based on Baidu's financial report results for the quarter.
Overall, it is a contract that is very sincere and considerate of people's feelings.
Even the breach of contract clause does not impose excessive restrictions on Meng Fanqi. It only stipulates that Baidu has the right to suspend all subsequent profit sharing if Meng Fanqi violates confidentiality regulations and requires Meng Fanqi to compensate three times the amount paid.
Meng Fanqi asked a senior lawyer to carefully consult and study the previously drafted version of the contract, and found that there were no problems.
In the current version, only the specific proportions and shares have been finalized, and other parts have not changed.
Therefore, Meng Fanqi agreed readily: "I have read these terms carefully and there are no problems. You can sign them now."
Since Meng Fanqi only provided technical services unilaterally, the signing was not very formal and there was no pomp and circumstance.
Part of the reason is also because Robin Li was aware of this incident, so he deliberately arranged it in a scene that was more like a discussion meeting.
Meng Fanqi said it was easy, but in fact he had just read the twenty-plus pages of the contract many times, for fear that he had missed something.
Now that the cooperation with Baidu has been settled, Meng Fanqi feels a lot more relaxed and is finally able to focus on other things.
"Mr. Li, I see that many developers outside seem to be on standby. What is going on?"
Baidu's Deep Learning Research Institute is not an easy place to join at this time. The entry threshold is very high. The salary is hundreds of thousands per capita after a year. Why don't everyone do their business and are all gathered outside the glass house? Looking at it, it feels like visiting a zoo.
"They? They all work on neural network structures and image detection algorithms. Once you get these two results, their work will be in vain this year."
Li Yanhong smiled and joked with Meng Fanqi, but deep down he was actually a little bitter.
"Now I am eagerly waiting to take over your code. After reading it, I will digest it for a few days. I plan to hold a technical conference as soon as possible to publicize the effect of this achievement."
"In such a hurry?" Meng Fanqi was a little surprised when he heard this, "Why don't you first make an app or some other component to test the additional functions?"
"We at Baidu currently lack accumulation and various basic resources in autonomous driving, industrial testing, and security. Based on the results of our discussion, we still hope to attract some leading companies in this area to cooperate by publicizing our technical level and capabilities. "
Robin Li has had smooth sailing in the past two years, but he has always maintained a strong sense of crisis in technology and actively explored new possibilities and new business areas.
"Furthermore, there are so many possibilities for real-time detection algorithms, and many times we can't guess what companies have what needs. Holding a technology conference as soon as possible is to show the various possibilities of your algorithm, and we will choose many directions. Pictures or objects are used for display. I hope that this form can stimulate potential needs of enterprises."
