CALB Withdraws Three Patent Invalidation Lawsuits Against CATL

New progress has been made in patent infringement cases between Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and its competitor China Aviation Lithium Battery Co., Ltd. (CALB). CATL confirmed on July 22 that CALB had withdrawn its three patent invalidation applications against the company.

In July last year, CATL sued CALB, claiming that the latter had infringed five of the firm’s battery-related patents. Subsequently, CALB filed invalidation applications for the patents to the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

The authorities have also made a review decision on the other two patent invalidity applications involved in the lawsuit. It claimed that CATL’s patents of “explosion-proof devices” remained fully valid, while the patents of “slip ring components and batteries” remained partially valid.

In May this year, in light of the huge value of the products involved in the lawsuit, CATL applied to the court to raise its compensation, asking for an increase from 185 million yuan ($27.38 million) to more than 510 million yuan ($75.48 million).

CALB, established in 2015, is currently applying for a listing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx). According to its prospectus, the operating profit of the firm in 2021 was 113 million yuan ($16.724 million). The company announced in July last year that it insisted on independent R&D, and the products provided to customers had undergone comprehensive risk investigations by professional intellectual property teams. It was assured that its products did not infringe on the other companies’ intellectual property rights.

In addition, CATL and SVOLT settled a legal dispute on July 19, whereby the former received a reconciliation payment of 5 million yuan ($740,083). At the firm’s 2021 annual performance briefing, Robin Zeng, the chairman of CATL, responded to its lawsuits against CALB, SVOLT and other competitors successively, saying that protecting intellectual property rights means protecting innovation and jointly promoting the development of the industry.

SEE ALSO: SVOLT and CATL Reach Settlement on Unfair Competition Case

According to South Korean institution SNE Research’s newly released power cell industry statistics, in the first half of this year, the loading capacity of CATL’s power batteries was 69 GWh, with a market share of 34%, ranking first in the world. CALB ranked seventh with a market share of 4%, with a total loading capacity of 9 GWh worldwide.