On March 24, 2023, Changzhou Tiansheng Materials Co., Ltd. ("Tiansheng Company") announced a major patent infringement lawsuit with a sum of 98 million yuan.

According to the announcement, Tiansheng Company recently received the "Notice of Acceptance of Case" (2023) issued by the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court. As the initiator of this patent dispute, Tiansheng Company filed a patent lawsuit against VISIGHT Material Technology Co., Ltd., and a bunch of its subsidiaries in different cities (collectively referred to as "VISIGHT" or "defendants") in the Qingdao Intermediate Court on the grounds of infringement of its invention patent rights.

Currently, the case has been filed and has not yet been heard in court. From the content of the announcement, Tiansheng Company believes that the defendants' VICELL-V series of products infringe on its ZL200910033041.X patent, and requested the court to order the defendants to stop the infringement and destroy the inventory of VICELL-V series products and claim a total of 98 million yuan for economic losses.

Tiansheng Company was established in 1998 and listed on the ChiNext of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2011. It is mainly engaged in the research and development, production, and sales of polymer foaming materials, including soft foam materials, structural foam materials, and post-processing products of these materials.

VISIGHT was established in 2011 and is a high-tech enterprise that integrates the research and development, production, and sales of high-strength lightweight structural core material products. Its products are mainly used in high-end composite material manufacturing fields such as wind power generation, aerospace, ships, rail transit, and new energy vehicles.

On March 1 of this year, VISIGHT submitted a prospectus to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for its initial public offering on the main board. VISIGHT listed Tiansheng Company as its main competitor in the same industry and stated in the prospectus that Tiansheng Company' foam material business specifically includes PE and EVA plastic foaming products, soft foam materials represented by SBR and CR rubber foaming products, and structural foam materials represented by PVC foam. Among them, Tiansheng Company' PE and EVA, SBR and CR materials differ significantly from VISIGHT' products in terms of functionality, application areas, and customer groups. However, Tiansheng Company' PVC foam materials are similar to VISIGHT' products in terms of functionality, application areas, and customers.

According to the prospectus, VISIGHT' main products are PVC structural foam, PET structural foam, and Balsa wood core materials. From a data perspective, PVC is VISIGHT' main product, accounting for nearly 80% or more of its main revenue during the reporting period. The VICELL-V series of products involved in VISIGHT' lawsuit is a closed-cell rigid PVC foam material.

The patent infringement war initiated by Tiansheng Material can be said to have hit the "critical point" of VISIGHT, but whether it can strike a decisive blow remains to be seen in the subsequent court proceedings. Tiansheng Company’s decision to initiate the patent litigation during VISIGHT’s IPO may be an attempt to strike a blow against its opponent at a critical moment.