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BEIJING, February 21 (TMTPOST) ——Chinese battery maker CALB announced on Tuesday that it had received a ruling on a patent lawsuit from the Fuzhou Intermediate People"s Court on Monday, saying that the company lost the lawsuit to its rival CATL, China"s largest battery producer..
Chinese battery giant CATL sued its rival CALB again for patent infringement from August to October 2021.
The court ordered CALB to immediately stop manufacturing and selling products that infringed CATL’s patents, compensate CATL for economic losses of 35.8 million yuan ($5.2 million), and pay 79,8000 yuan ($116,082) for the temporary protection of its invention patents.
The patent dispute between CATL and CALB began in 2021, when CATL sued CALB for infringing five patents, with 185 million yuan ($26.9 million) in combined damages. Over the past year, the conflict between the two sides escalated. In May 2022, CATL raised the five patent infringement damages to 518 million yuan ($75.4 million). In August, CATL sued CALB for another patent infringement, demanding 130 million yuan ($18.9 million) in damages. At the same time, CATL also sued CALB for unfair competition.
Fuzhou Intermediate People"s Court issued the first judgment on the above patent infringement cases on November 30, 2022, requiring CALB to pay a total of 2.96 million yuan ($ 430,543) in compensation and stop selling the infringing products.
The judgment issued to CALB on Monday was the second judgment on those cases. CALB has filed a request with the National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on the invalidation of those patents, which has yet to issue a judgment, according to the company. It also plans to appeal to the Supreme People"s Court and won"t have to pay the compensation for now. CALB also stressed that the products suspected of patent infringement were at the end of their life cycles and had been replaced by newer products with better performance.
Behind the intellectual property dispute between the two companies is heated competition in the Chinese power battery industry. As the global automotive industry shifts its focus to electrification and carbon neutrality, power batteries hold great promise. CATL estimates that by 2030, the global demand for power batteries is expected to reach 4.8TWh, or 4800GWh and the demand for energy storage batteries will reach 1.032TWh, or 1032GWh.
Another person familiar with the issue said that CALB sought to reconcile with CATL in 2022 when the two sides reached an agreement, but CALB quickly backtracked, leading to intensified conflict. As a result, CATL raised the patent infringement compensation and filed a lawsuit against unfair competition.
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