CATL, which recently took the blame for the recall of Chery Automobile and Great Wall Motor, has once again become the focus of public opinion due to intellectual property disputes.
On July 21, it was reported that CATL had formally sued China Aviation Lithium battery for patent infringement, accusing the latter of covering its entire range of products. In response, the securities Daily reporter immediately sought confirmation from CATL, and the company replied that it was true. CATL has submitted a letter on the patent infringement case of Lithium battery filed by AVIC, which has been accepted. The patents involved involve inventions and utility model patents, and the allegedly infringing batteries have been installed in tens of thousands of vehicles."
Intellectual property is a strategic resource for the company to enhance its core competitiveness, the person told reporters. CATL has long attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights and actively strengthened cooperation on intellectual property rights to promote the healthy and orderly development of the industry."
As the other party involved in the lawsuit, China Aviation Lithium also did not back down, a clear-cut position to fight back, saying: "(the company) to provide customers with products after a comprehensive risk investigation by a professional intellectual property team, the company is sure that its products do not belong to the intellectual property rights of others."
China Aviation lithium electric installation volume jumped to the fourth
CATL, as a battery supplier for many electric vehicle companies, has long ranked first in terms of installed capacity of domestic power lithium battery companies.
In contrast, avIC Lithium, a "rising star", has seen an impressive growth in the number of units installed in the past two years. In the first half of this year, it increased by 377.6% year-on-year, and its market share rose to 6.9%. It has jumped from the sixth place in the industry in 2019 to the fourth place in the industry, only following CATL, BYD and LG Chem.
According to the information on the official website of China Aviation Lithium, the company is a high-tech company specializing in the research and development of lithium ion power battery, battery management system and energy storage battery, and its products cover three yuan and lithium iron phosphate two systems. According to tianyan information, changzhou Jinsha Technology Investment Co., LTD., the largest shareholder of China Aviation Lithium, holding 21%. Ccac is the second largest shareholder in THE company with a 12.6 per cent stake. The company's related investment institutions also include GAC Capital, Sequoia Capital, Millet Changjiang Industrial Fund, etc.
After reviewing relevant public information, securities Daily reporters learned that avIC lithium battery production has exceeded 100GWh this year. Liu Jingyu, chairman of AVIC Lithium, recently revealed that the company's planned production capacity in 2025 has been increased to 300GWh, 50% higher than the previous target.
It is worth paying attention to that, in the domestic new energy vehicle power lithium battery installation TOP5 companies, avic lithium is the only company not listed at present. But in June, there were media reports that The company was planning an IPO next year.
Up to now, AVIC Lithium battery's customers include Changan, GAC, Geely, Jinkang and other automobile companies, and it has entered the technology development stage with FAW, SAIC, Great Wall, Volkswagen, Daimler and other automobile companies, paving the way for further cooperation.
In 2020, GAC and Changan Automobile are the two automotive enterprises with the largest contribution to the installed volume of lithium battery of AVIC. The battery products supplied by AVIC accounted for 62% and 74% of the installed volume of the two companies, respectively. In addition, AVIC Lithium is also one of the battery suppliers of Wuling Hongguang MINIEV and the exclusive supplier of the power lithium battery for the 120km version of the popular Macaron model.
Lin Shi, a sina finance columnist, told reporters that by comparing the stock prices and market values of leading production companies such as CATL, Ev Lithium energy and BYD, the market prospects for the successful listing of AVIC Lithium will be very promising. At this time, the news of alleged infringement of CATL is expected to bring adverse effects to the listing of Lithium battery of China Aviation. Lin shi believes that once the aviation lithium battery, do not exclude the whole system of products will face the consequences of the ban.
Patent competition for lithium-ion power batteries is raging
In fact, in addition to AVIC lithium, LAST year CATL also filed a lawsuit against Tafel New Energy, alleging that the other side of its battery explosion-proof technology patents.
LG Chem has also filed four complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), accusing SK of stealing its trade secrets. Over the next two years, the two sides clashed several times before settling, with SK eventually paying LG Chem won2,000bn in compensation.
It is widely believed that in recent years, the power lithium battery field disputes, the important reason is that there are huge market interests in this field. With the rapid rise of the market scale of new energy vehicles, the patent related to it has become an important way of competition between manufacturers.
An anonymous practitioner told Securities Daily that there are a lot of "poaching" or "bringing technology into the factory" phenomena in the lithium battery industry to achieve the purpose of quickly acquiring technology. At the same time, through the purchase of friends to do benchmarking analysis, reverse research and development is also widespread.
The reporter noticed that Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), submitted a proposal on ipr protection for lithium batteries during the "two sessions" this year. He believes that the current lithium battery intellectual property rights occur from time to time, the company's process is more difficult. First, it is difficult to obtain evidence and high cost; Second, the cycle is long, unable to match the characteristics of rapid replacement of lithium battery products; Third, it is a matter of commercial secrets.
"As the number of new energy vehicles continues to rise, the competitive landscape in the power lithium battery industry is also changing." Yu Qingjiao, secretary-general of Zhongguancun New Battery Technology Innovation Alliance and president of Battery 100, said in an interview with Securities Daily that now most car companies are implementing supplier diversification strategy, and in the future the second and third tier battery brands will have more opportunities to enter the supply chain of different car companies, to the first or second echelon. In this process, leading companies with a leading position in the industry are likely to restrict their followers through patents and intellectual property rights.
Yu Qingjiao believes that in recent years, there have been many intellectual property disputes in the power lithium battery industry, which should cause our great attention. "We call on companies in the industry to respect intellectual property rights and proprietary technology, and stop copying and vicious competition like the home appliance industry once did."
Yu qingjiao also said that in the field of battery new energy, the development trend of "internationalization of The Chinese market, the international market of China" is increasingly prominent. With the acceleration of overseas market development of power lithium battery industry, we should also attach importance to the patent protection of overseas exported lithium battery technology and recovery technology. The competition of lithium battery industry is developing towards penetration and refinement, strengthening core technology innovation and high-quality patent layout will be the inevitable trend of development.