By ZHUANG Jian
Chinese battery maker CALB announced on Thursday night that the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) had invalidated two patents granted to CATL, the world’s largest battery maker.
CALB requested invalidation in July last year.
Indirect victory
In July 2021, CATL sued CALB for infringement of five patents, the two in question among them, claiming a total of 647 million yuan (US million) in damages.
In February this year, Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled that CALB was in the wrong, should pay CATL 57.1 million yuan, and cease selling the affected products.
At that time, CALB said it would appeal to the Supreme People's Court, and that it had submitted an application to NIPA to declare two of the patents invalid.
NIPA is responsible for granting (on invalidating) patents, while the courts rule on infringements. If the defendant succeeds in forcing invalidation, the basis of the original lawsuit is lost, equivalent to winning the lawsuit indirectly.
In the announcement, CALB cited the judicial interpretation issued by the Supreme People's Court, saying that the dispute may be dismissed.
As of the time of writing, CATL has not responded to the latest developments.
In addition to the patent lawsuits related to "lithium-ion batteries" and "positive electrode tabs and batteries," the two companies have also settled the patent lawsuit related to "busbars and batteries," with CALB being ordered to compensate CATL a total of 2.96 million yuan.
CALB and CATL are locked in a cycle of claim and counter-claim with another case now proceeding through Beijing Intellectual Property Court, seeking to overturn that examination decision.
Unequal power ratings
CATL and CALB are both industry leaders, first and third in the domestic market, but there are far more unequal than those rankings suggest. CATL controls something close to 40 percent of the global market, CALB has more like 4 percent, ranking sixth.
CATL has often stated that it respects the intellectual property rights of third parties but will crack down on malicious infringement to maintain fair market competition.
