CATL Sues CALB for Patent Infringement
On Wednesday, Chinese battery giant CATL has formally sued China Lithium Battery Technology (CALB) for patent infringement, involving the latter’s entire product line.
According to the company, the patents involved in the case include inventions and utility model patents. The batteries suspected of patent infringement have been deployed in tens of thousands of vehicles.
The main business of CATL and CALB are power batteries, meaning lithium batteries used to provide a power source for new energy vehicles.
According to the statistics of the SNE, a new energy analysis agency in South Korea, CATL has ranked first in the global power battery installed base for four consecutive years. It is also a leader in the Chinese power battery market.
In response, CALB said it insists on independent research and development, and its products have undergone comprehensive risk investigation by a professional intellectual property team and do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. The company further claimed that it has not received any relevant documents.
In the ranking of Chinese power battery enterprises in Q1 2021, CALB ranked fourth with a market share of 6.0%, trailing CATL, BYD and LG Chem with market shares of 52.6%, 12.9% and 8.2% respectively. According to the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA), CATL is the country’s largest power battery supplier, with an installed base of 25.76 GWh and a market share of 49.1 percent in the first half of 2021.
In 2020, the revenue of CALB reached ¥2.67 billion with a net profit of ¥130 million, total assets of ¥18.7 billion and net assets of ¥13.3 billion. Reportedly, CALB is carrying out a new round of financing, paving the way for IPO. In December 2020, the firm received investments from CoStone Capital, Xiaomi Changjiang Industrial Fund, GAC Capital and Sequoia China, and its registered capital increased from ¥6.99 billion to ¥12.76 billion.
