Chinese Battery Maker CALB Compensates $417K to Rival CATL for Patent Infringement

Chinese battery maker CALB announced on November 30 that it will immediately stop selling products that infringe on the patent rights of a rival, CATL, and compensate the latter 2.96 million yuan ($417,577).

This result is the first instance judgment. Therefore, CALB will appeal again but cannot determine the time and outcome of the final judgment. In terms of the infringement, CALB also said that the company’s products have adopted more advanced technology which is different from those involved in CATL’s patents.

This case originated in October 2021, when CATL filed a claim for intellectual property infringement against CALB, including five patents such as positive electrode pieces and batteries, explosion-proof devices, flow collecting components and batteries, lithium-ion batteries and battery cover structures. The compensation claim totalled 185 million yuan but the lawsuit that just ended concerns only one of these patents.

In May this year, CATL raised the amount of compensation to 518 million yuan. On August 1 this year, it made a claim for another 130 million yuan for a new patent infringement case against CALB.

CATL also sued another battery maker, Zhong Hang Li Dian (Luoyang) Co., for patent infringement and was compensated 14.16 million yuan.

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According to the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, in the first ten months of this year, CALB installed 15.39GWh worth of batteries in electric vehicles, achieving a 6.86% market share, but still lagging CATL and BYD.

CALB, which debuted on October 6 at HK $38, is the first listed battery maker on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its stock price dropped to HK $19.34 on November 30.