According to an announcement released by CALB on August 3, there has been a significant new development in the patent dispute between CATL and CALB. CATL filed a lawsuit against CALB, alleging infringement of their intellectual property rights related to the positive electrode and battery, as well as the lithium-ion battery invention patents. However, according to the declaration made by the National Intellectual Property Office, both of the patents in question have been declared completely invalid.
According to the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Patent Infringement Dispute Cases (II) (2020 Amendment)”, if the claims of a patent right are declared invalid by the national patent administration department, the people’s court can rule to dismiss the lawsuit based on those invalid claims.
The patent dispute between these two companies has been ongoing for nearly two years, with continuous back-and-forth and an increasing amount of claim amounts. The latest litigation request amounting to a staggering 648 million yuan.
The intellectual property dispute between these two companies has attracted significant attention in the industry, especially concerning lithium battery intellectual property.
According to previous reports, from July to September last year, CATL filed a lawsuit with the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court, alleging that CALB infringed on a total of 5 patents, including the positive electrode and battery, explosion-proof device, current collecting component and battery, lithium-ion battery, and power battery top cover structure. Among them, 3 are invention patents and 2 are utility model patents, with CATL claiming 185 million yuan in damages.
In May of this year, CATL once again raised the compensation amount to 518 million yuan. On August 1st of this year, CATL filed another lawsuit with the Fujian Provincial Higher People’s Court, alleging infringement of another patent by CALB, claiming 130 million yuan in damages.
CATL stated that the patents involved in the case cover both invention and utility model patents, and the batteries alleged to have infringed upon are already installed in tens of thousands of vehicles. If CALB loses the lawsuit, the vehicle models equipped with the allegedly infringing batteries may face sales bans.
In response, CALB stated in the announcement, “The technology in the field of power batteries is constantly advancing, and products are continuously being updated. Our company has adopted more advanced technologies that are completely different from the early-stage technologies covered by the patents in question. Therefore, there is no immediate need to stop selling the products in question.”
