Zhuhai Guanyu, a lithium battery manufacturer, has encountered a new patent infringement lawsuit, involving 22 million yuan, which is in the first-instance stage and has not yet been heard.

On the evening of June 26, Zhuhai Guanyu announced that it was recently sued by Dongguan New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Dongguan New Energy”), claiming that Zhuhai Guanyu’s products infringed its two patents, namely ZL201621315077.9 and ZL201210294046.X. It requested to stop manufacturing, using and selling the products involved in the case, and the compensation amount for the products involved in the case was 11 million yuan, totaling 22 million yuan for the two patents.

Previously, on June 20, Zhuhai Guanyu announced that Ningde New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Ningde New Energy”) claimed that the company infringed its patent ZL201420030319.4 and sued it, requesting it to stop manufacturing, using and selling the products involved in the case, and requesting compensation of 105 million yuan for economic losses and 1 million yuan for reasonable expenses.

According to public information, both Dongguan New Energy and Ningde New Energy are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “ATL”). ATL was founded in 1999 by Zeng Yuqun, the founder of Ningde Times, together with Liang Shaokang, Chen Tanghua and others. Its headquarters is located in Hong Kong and it is a lithium battery manufacturer. In June 2005, Japan’s TDK Group acquired 100% of ATL’s shares for US$100 million, making ATL a wholly-owned subsidiary of TDK.

According to the information from the State Intellectual Property Office, the patent ZL201621315077.9 mentioned in the announcement of the lawsuit on the evening of June 26 involves “a cathode sheet and a battery”, and the abstract shows that using the cathode sheet of this application can greatly improve the safety and reliability of the battery. The patent was applied by Dongguan New Energy on December 2, 2016.

The patent ZL201420030319.4 mentioned in the announcement on June 20 was applied by Ningde New Energy on January 17, 2014. The abstract shows that it can greatly reduce the risk of internal short circuit and lithium deposition of the battery, and improve the safety performance of the battery under the premise of ensuring high energy density, so as to achieve market promotion and application.

Speaking of the patent dispute cases between ATL and Zhuhai Guanyu, according to incomplete statistics, there are currently about 10 patents involved in infringement disputes.

As early as July 2022, ATL had sued Zhuhai Guanyu for allegedly infringing its patent ZL201621440703.7. On May 11, 2023, Zhuhai Guanyu received a first-instance judgment issued by Fuzhou Intermediate Court. For the patent ZL201621440703.7 involved in the case, Zhuhai Guanyu was ordered to compensate Ningde New Energy 10.12 million yuan in the first-instance judgment. Zhuhai Guanyu appealed to the Supreme People’s Court on May 19, arguing that the products it developed and produced had completely independent intellectual property rights. The case is currently in the second-instance stage.

On June 11 this year, an announcement issued by Zhuhai Guanyu showed that on June 9, the company received a “Decision on Examination of Request for Declaration of Invalidity” issued by the State Intellectual Property Office. The State Intellectual Property Office declared that ATL’s patent ZL201621440703.7 sued Zhuhai Guanyu for infringement was invalid because it “lacked inventiveness”. According to relevant laws and judicial practices, if a patent involved in a second-instance stage is declared invalid in its entirety, the Supreme Court will basically revoke the first-instance judgment and reject all litigation requests of ATL as plaintiff in the first instance.

Previously, four patents sued by ATL were declared invalid. Among them, ZL201420789403.4, ZL201510564696.5 and ZL201220359889.9 were declared invalid due to lack of inventiveness; ZL201720090970.4 was declared invalid because its claims were not supported by the specification, and ATL also withdrew its lawsuit accordingly.

As of now, among the 10 patent dispute cases between Zhuhai Guanyu and ATL, five patents of ATL have been declared invalid by the State Intellectual Property Office.

In terms of stock price performance, as of the close of June 27, Zhuhai Guanyu’s stock price closed at 18.94 yuan, down 1.66%, with a total market value of 21.2 billion yuan. The company’s stock price fell by more than 60% in 2022; since the beginning of the year, the company’s stock price has risen by about 2%.