Zhuhai CosMX Battery Co., Ltd., founded in 2007 and headquartered in Zhuhai, has three production bases in Zhuhai, Chongqing and Zhejiang, and a factory in India. Zhuhai CosMX is one of the world's leading suppliers of consumer polymer soft pack lithium-ion batteries, and has been serving the world's well-known customers in the fields of laptops, tablets, smartphones, smart wearables, power tools, drones, etc. for long term. In the field of power battery, Zhuhai CosMX has become a qualified supplier for many automobile manufacturers after years of accumulation. Currently, it has entered the field of high-end electric motorbikes, car starter batteries and energy storage, and will gradually enter the field of battery electric passenger vehicles and high-voltage energy storage.
Background of the Case:
The patent in question, 201811308831.X, is titled "electrochemical device", and the applicant, Zhuhai CosMX Battery Co., Ltd., instituted an invalidation proceeding (China National Intellectual Property Administration’s Case No.: 4W115989) against the patentee Ningde Amperex Technology Ltd. in relation to the aforesaid patent. This patent relates to a patent infringement lawsuit between Zhuhai CosMX and Ningde Amperex. In the Civil Judgment [(2022) Min 01 Min Chu No. 1647] made by Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court, Zhuhai CosMX was ordered to stop infringing the invention patent and to compensate Ningde Amperex with RMB 5 million. The infringement lawsuit has proceeded to the second trial [(2023) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong No. 2589].
The patent in question had already been invalidated prior to our representation in the invalidation case, and the prior invalidation decision upheld some of the claims as valid. After our Law Firm represented the invalidation case, Lawyer Meihua ZHOU, as the organizing lawyer in the invalidation case, planned and led the formulation and implementation of the invalidation strategy in this case, and represented the invalidation case throughout the whole process. Finally, China National Intellectual Property Administration made the No. 564970 Invalidation Decision, and declared that the No. 201811308831.X invention patent "electrochemical device" owned by Ningde Amperex Technology Ltd. is invalid.
Difficulties and Solutions:
There are two difficulties in this case:
Firstly, the main difficulty in this case is how to take a different approach to find prior art evidence that discloses the inventive concept of the patent. Lawyer Meihua ZHOU's team, based on an in-depth analysis of the inventive concept of the patent in question, adopted a new approach to inventive commentary, which enabled the case to break through the difficulties encountered in the search.
Secondly, how to respond to the patentee's challenge to the combined revelation of the evidence, including the patentee's challenge to that whether Evidence 1 gives contrary teaching, and whether Evidence 2 gives revelation in conjunction with the revelation technique.
Lawyer Meihua ZHOU led the team to break through the difficulties in the handling of the case, one by one:
Firstly, the team deeply analyzed the inventive concept in this case, found comparative documents that can disclose the inventive concept of the patent in question through unremitting search, repeatedly scrutinized the way the evidence is combined, and finally determined that the essence of the invention of the patent in question is to coat an insulating layer on a conventional coiled electrode to prevent short-circuiting and improve the puncture performance of battery cells. Based on this idea, the team retrieved the Evidence 1 and Evidence 2 disclosing the corresponding technical features.
Secondly, in response to the patentee's challenge to the combined revelation of Evidence 1 and Evidence 2, Lawyer Meihua ZHOU's team deeply analyzed the technical problems faced by the technical solution recorded in Evidence 1 in the case of battery cell puncture, and the technical principle adopted in Evidence 2, fully resolved the above difficulty and demonstrated its profound understanding of the patent's technical solution and the Patent Law.
Highlights and Significance:
Both parties to the invalidation case are well-known companies in the new energy sector. Among them, the patentee Ningde Amperex (ATL) is a leading company in the battery field. This case is about one of the patents involved in a series of infringement cases brought by Ningde Amperex against Zhuhai CosMX. This series of infringement cases, with a total claim of RMB 66 million, has a great influence in the industry.
Based on the fact that in the infringement lawsuit of the patent in question, the appellee was ordered to compensate the other party with RMB 5 million, and some of the claims were upheld by a prior invalidation decision, and after accepting the entrustment, we deeply analyzed the inventive concept in this case, opened up new ideas for invalidation evidence searches and creative commentaries, and finally invalidated all the claims of the patent in question, and saved the client's economic losses.
