On September 18, Hebei Jinli New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter referred to as "Jinli Shares") submitted an application to the Shanghai Stock Exchange to withdraw its IPO.
So far, Jinli shares have terminated the IPO in more than nine months since its IPO began on December 30 last year. During the
IPO period, the most interesting thing is that since April this year, Jinli shares have been involved in two rounds of five patent claims lawsuits initiated by competitors, with the total amount of compensation as high as 2.
According to the prospectus of Jinli shares, Jinli shares only turned losses into profits in 2021, with a net profit of 103 million yuan. Net profit in the first half of 2022 1.
Jinli Co., Ltd. is an enterprise engaged in the production of lithium battery diaphragm. According to the statistical analysis of Minsheng Securities on China's diaphragm market in 2018-2021, it can be seen that Jinli shares ranked fourth or fifth in the market share in 2020-2021.
The announcement shows that Zhuhai Enjie New Material Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Yunnan Enjie New Material Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Enjie New Material Technology Co., Ltd. are plaintiffs (referred to as "Enjie Shares"). He filed lawsuits with Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court and Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court respectively on the disputes over the infringement of invention patents and utility model patents by Jinli shares. A total of three patents were involved, with a total claim of 70 million yuan. The patents
involved are: an invention patent ZL 201810751698.9 named "a lithium ion battery diaphragm and its preparation method", claiming 30 million yuan; A utility model patent ZL 201920914445.9 named "High Safety Lithium Ion Battery Coating Isolator" claims 20 million yuan; ZL201921292978, a utility model patent named "coated separator for lithium-ion batteries with high safety and good cyclicity", disclosed the details of the
case when Jinli responded to the inquiry of the Shanghai Municipal Committee on August 11, indicating that in April-May 2023. The subsidiary of Enjie shares filed a lawsuit on the grounds of patent infringement. However, Jinli subsequently indicated that it had filed a request for invalidation of the three patents with the State Intellectual Property Office.
The announcement showed that Shanghai Enjie, a subsidiary of Enjie, filed a lawsuit with the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court over the infringement of the company's invention patent rights by Jinli and related parties, and the two patents claimed a total of 2.
The second round of attacks officially began.
Unlike the three patents attacked in the first round, all of them came from Enjie itself. The two patents used in the second round came from Teijin Corporation of Japan. According to the supplementary announcement of Enjie shares, the two patents involved are shared by Teijin Co., Ltd. and Enjie shares.
ZL201380061102.ZL201810710744.
According to Internet information, since 2019, Shanghai Enjie has cooperated with Teijin in joint development, intellectual property sharing and technology. In 2020, it signed a patent strategic cooperation agreement, including authorization agreement, cooperative development agreement and technical support agreement.
According to a report by China Fortune Network in June this year, Enjie recently signed a patent share transfer agreement with Teijin of Japan in the fields of water-based polymer coating and water-based inorganic coating, including several patents.
According to the information of the State Intellectual Property Office on September 19, Jinli shares also filed a request for invalidation of the two patents from Teijin, which was formally accepted by the State Intellectual Property Office on September 19.
So far, although Jinli shares have terminated the IPO of Kechuang Board, the invalidation of the five patents of Enjie shares has just begun. And it can be expected that Jinli shares will want to invalidate these five patents as much as possible. According to the public information of the State Intellectual Property Office, it is Zhonglun Law Firm that provides the five invalid agents for Jinli shares.
In fact, the patent blockade between Enjie and Jinli is only a corner of the fierce competition in the field of lithium diaphragm. Star Source Material and Shenzhen ZTE New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter referred to as "ZTE New Material"), which are
also the top five in the industry, are also involved in intellectual property disputes, which is also a patent blocking war concerning the IPO of the company. On April 11,
2022, Star Source Material announced that it had sued ZTE New Material and its affiliated companies for infringement of its invention patent ZL201510998677 entitled "a dry unidirectional tensile diaphragm with uniform pore formation and its preparation method".
The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court made a first instance judgment and rejected all the claims of the Star Source Material.
A month later, in March 2023, ZTE's IPO was officially accepted.
According to the information released by ZTE New Material, on January 16, 2023, Star Source Material filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate Court. On May 24, 2023, the Shenzhen Intermediate Court formally filed a lawsuit against disputes over infringement of technical secrets.
As of August 4, the case of infringement of technical secrets has not yet been heard.
Conclusion
It can be seen that, at least in the field of lithium battery diaphragm, the top two leaders in the industry have started the "sniping" journey with intellectual property rights as a weapon when the pursuers are trying to increase capital and production through the capital market.
In fact, during or before the listing of enterprises, it has become a common means at home and abroad to influence competitors by means of intellectual property rights. For example, IBM, a big American company, is happy to take this as the best time to monetize its patents, often launching patent lawsuits in the IPO stage.
Judging from the current results, the termination of the IPO of Jinli shares seems to indicate that part of the purpose of Enjie shares has been achieved. What remains to be seen is whether ZTE New Material can withstand the patent pressure of Star Source Material.
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