CATL took its rival CALB to court, asking for an increase of compensation from CNY 185 million to CNY 518 million.
Due to alleged patent infringements, the Lithium battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) sued its competitor China Aviation Lithium Battery Co., Ltd (CALB, Chinese: 中创新航) for a compensation of CNY 518 million (USD 77.7 million).
CATL said the batteries produced by CALB infringed its intellectual property rights and have been installed on tens of thousands of cars.
Facing the lawsuit filed by CATL, CALB rejected the allegations of patent infringement, and responded that the company has a professional IPR team to avoid the risk of patent infringement. Meanwhile, CALB said it respects intellectual property rights.
In March 2022, CALB submitted a prospectus to the HKEX, planning to raise USD 1.5 billion from its IPO. In the prospectus, CALB indicated that the patent infringement dispute will not have significant impacts on the company.
CALB grew rapidly in 2021 and recorded a revenue of CNY 6.8 billion, up 240% year on year. Its net profit reached CNY 110 million.
According to research institution SNE, China’s EV battery makers grew at a steady pace in the first quarter of 2022. CATL, BYD, CALB, Gotion High-Tech (Chinese: 国轩高科), Svolt Energy (Chinese: 蜂巢能源), Eve Energy (Chinese: 亿纬锂能) are among the top 10 players. During this period, their growth rates went up 137.7%, 220.4%, 208.7%, 179.9%, 137.5% and 132.4% year on year, respectively.