Reverse! Two patents involved in litigation were invalidated! Ningde Times: Appeal!

between Ningde Times and Zhongchuang Xinhang has suddenly changed.

On August 3, China Innovation Airlines announced that the company had received a notice from the State Intellectual Property Office that the two patented technologies " cathode and battery" and "lithium-ion battery" filed by Ningde Times were all declared invalid.

In response, Ningde Times responded that the company would initiate administrative litigation within the legal time to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.

In this regard, some legal personages said that the two patents in the Ningde era were declared invalid by the State Intellectual Property Office, only the examination decision of the state administrative organs, and the patents are still in the state of legal validity. If Ningde Times files an administrative lawsuit, the administrative document of the State Intellectual Property Office declaring the patent invalid will not take effect, and at the same time, the two patents involved will not enter the invalid state , and still need to wait for the court's hearing results. In July

2021, September 2021, July 2022 and August 2022, Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. A total of six patents were involved , including positive pole pieces and batteries, explosion-proof devices, current collector components and batteries, lithium-ion batteries, power battery top cover structures and power batteries.

During this period, the amount of litigation has also been rising, of which the amount of the first five lawsuits has risen from 185 million to 518 million, while the sixth patent has been claimed 130 million, so far, the total amount of the six patents involved is 648 million.

In response, China Innovation Airlines filed a "patent invalidation" request with the State Intellectual Property Office for the first five items. The first confrontation in November

2022 ended with China Innovation Airlines being awarded a total of 2.96 million yuan in compensation for "infringement of intellectual property rights of current collection components and batteries" in Ningde Times. The State Intellectual Property Office has made some valid decisions on the patents involved in this case. In February

2023, Zhongchuang Hangyuan was again convicted of infringement, "positive pole piece and battery patent" was awarded compensation of 20.3027 million yuan in Ningde era, and "lithium-ion battery invention patent" was awarded compensation of 36.807 million yuan.

Zhongchuang Hangyuan said that it had submitted a request for invalidation of the patent involved to the State Intellectual Property Office and had appealed.

In addition, in March this year, China Innovation Airlines also dug Ningwang technicians and business backbone through a third party. It was found by the court to violate the unfair competition law and awarded 3.7 million yuan in compensation to Ningde Times.

Up to the time of publication, the estimated compensation amount of China Innovation Airlines has accumulated 63.7634 million yuan . Of the first five patent litigation cases involved, one was partially valid by the State Intellectual Property Office, two were invalid, and the remaining two have not yet been adjudicated. Judging from the current progress of the

"war on all sides" of King Ning

, this battle may continue for another two years.

In fact, this is not the first enmity between China Innovation Airlines and Ningwang. The enmity between the two sides can be traced back to 2019, when China Innovation Airlines swallowed the battery orders of Guangzhou Automobile, a big customer of Ningwang. In that year alone, GAC became the second largest customer of China Innovation Airlines, and then became the company's largest customer in the second year. In this regard, the industry generally believes that it is the turn of GAC that has established the third position of China Innovation Airlines in the industry today.

In contrast to the Ningde era, in recent years, more than one GAC order and six patents have been "lost".

As the leader in the field of power batteries, Ning Wang in the eyes of the world is half an unattainable and proud achievement, while the other half is an "aggressive" incompatible with the leading position.

Unfair competition, patent disputes … Ningde Times, which has no mercy in intellectual property rights, has fought against its friends many times, and many enterprises such as Tafel, Honeycomb Energy and Zhuhai Guanyu have been defeated by it. This is true

for enterprises, and it is also not polite to employees who leave their jobs.

From 2019 to 2020, Ningde Times sued nine departing employees for violating the competition agreement and demanded compensation of 1 million yuan per person.

Although on the surface, the fact that departing employees violate the competition agreement is indisputable, according to media reports at that time, the scope of the competition agreement in Ningde era is so wide that there is little way to avoid it except to change careers. In terms of compensation, the maximum compensation for nine employees is only 7000 yuan, but in the actual judgment, they are all required to compensate up to 1 million yuan.

Broad non-compete agreements, patent sticks held high, and the anxiety of this "tall man" behind the overbearing King Ning.

From 2021 to the first half of 2023, the domestic market share of battery loading in Ningde era has been declining, from 52.1% to 48.2% to 43.4% in the first half of this year. During this period, even in April 2022, it once fell below 40%, which is the first time since 2019 that the Ningde era has fallen below 50%. In terms of

cause and effect, is this not planted by the Ningde era itself?

In the field of power batteries, Ningde Times has always been known for its strength, relying on the dual advantages of production capacity and technology, firmly controlling the right to speak. Car companies, which

pay the high cost of power batteries, spend a lot of money every year and have little say.

As a result, powerful car companies have begun to seek new ways out.

Guangzhou Automobile has supported Zhongchuang Xinhang, Changan Automobile has set up Honeycomb Energy, Ideal and Weilai have invested in Xinwangda, and Xiaopeng has quietly established Guangzhou Pengyue Power Battery Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of up to 5 billion yuan. In January

this year, Ren Zeping, a famous economist, set the basic mood of the power battery market with the phrase " the world is bitter and peaceful for a long time ".

"Fighting on all sides", "suppressing competitors", "coercing car companies", "squeezing upstream and downstream profits", it is hard to imagine that these four words will appear on an industry leader at the same time.

"There are two results when an enterprise becomes bigger, one is the general respect and admiration of the industry, and there are many good cases; the other is fear and dissatisfaction, such as the current Ningde era.".