Lithium battery patent war four China's power battery both to strengthen management and continuous innovation

In the view of industry insiders, at present, China's lithium battery industry has established a complete industrial chain, technology, technology, raw materials and other links have basically achieved localization, some of which have reached the international leading level, but China's battery enterprises still need to improve their understanding of intellectual property rights, and the patent layout is relatively weak.

According to foreign media reports, South Korean lithium battery supplier SK Innovation and LG Chem have reached a settlement. The former will pay the latter 2 trillion won (about US $1.8 billion) in compensation, including a one-time payment and operating royalties. The two sides agreed to withdraw all legal disputes in the United States and South Korea and to reach a 10-year non-dispute clause. At this point, the lithium battery industry for 2 years of "century dispute" came to an end.

With the rapid development of the power battery industry, the above cases have also sounded the alarm for Chinese enterprises, and relevant enterprises urgently need to do a good job in risk investigation and patent layout.

Settlement is the result of multiple factors

LG Chem and SK Innovation are both important suppliers in the US power battery market. Among them, SK Innovation mainly provides power batteries to Volkswagen, Ford and Hyundai Motor, while LG Chem is a battery supplier to Tesla and General Motors.

The patent dispute between the two companies will start in 2019. That year, LG Chem filed four lawsuits with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), accusing SK of infringing its patents and then accusing SK of stealing its trade secrets. In the following two years, the two sides had many exchanges. In February, the ITC ruled in favor of LG Chem, imposing a 10-year import ban on SK lithium-ion batteries. SK responded by saying: "To withdraw from the new Georgia battery plant under construction, which costs $2.6 billion."

"The plant will create 6000 local jobs." Industry insiders told reporters that during the entire litigation process Innovation LG Chem and SK, there were shadows from the government and auto giants. Because once the ban, not only SKI Innovation, the above-mentioned subjects will suffer losses.

By March 31 this year, the incident was "reversed". ITC ruled that SK Innovation did not infringe LG Chemical's battery-related patents.

What needs to be clarified here is that trade secrets and patent infringement are two separate lawsuits. Industry insiders pointed out that the 2 trillion won compensation is aimed at trade secret litigation. Although the investigation of patent infringement has been joined in the middle, the purpose is to put pressure on each other. "The reversal of the ITC ruling may be that the two parties have reached a settlement in advance and the patent infringement case has been settled early, so that the two companies can live with each other."

Jiang Tao, deputy general manager of the Data and Consulting Division of Beijing Chaofan Intellectual Property Management Consulting Co., Ltd., pointed out that the reconciliation between the two companies is almost an inevitable result and is the result of the combined influence of many factors. From a strategic point of view, the power battery import ban is not conducive to the United States and South Korea in the international new energy market competition.

China's enterprises lack of core patents

The above cases are not an example, with the vigorous development of new energy vehicles and power battery industry, lithium battery intellectual property litigation cases occur from time to time, and enterprises are difficult to obtain evidence, rights protection is more difficult.

"In a case, lithium battery manufacturers usually need to notarize the purchase of at least two models, each of which is expensive and has a long period of rights protection. The whole case takes about 3 years, which is seriously lagging behind the replacement cycle of lithium battery products." Ningde era chairman Zeng Yuqun has called for strengthening the protection of lithium battery intellectual property rights. In the view of industry insiders, at present, China's lithium battery industry has established a complete industrial chain, technology, technology, raw materials and other links have basically achieved localization, some of which have reached the international leading level. However, China's battery enterprises still need to improve their understanding of intellectual property rights, and the patent layout is relatively weak.

"In terms of quantity alone, China has the largest number of patent applications in the world in the field of lithium batteries. What we lack is high-value core patents that are technically 'able to hold the barrier, 'legally 'able to stand the test', and in the market 'able to hold the interests'." Jiang Tao pointed out that my country's lithium battery research and development started late, and some basic technologies, especially materials, lack of core patents, are subject to foreign companies. This situation still exists in the research and development of next-generation lithium battery materials. The research and development of advanced material technology often takes a long time to invest and bears the risk of failure, which is unbearable for most enterprises.

In addition, most of the research and development resources are concentrated in scientific research institutes, and scientific research projects are difficult to connect with market demand, resulting in the disconnection between the results and the market, and the technology is mainly imitated and improved. Therefore, it is difficult for Chinese enterprises to produce core technologies and corresponding high-quality patents.

It is necessary to strengthen management and continue to innovate

There has been a warning, how can China's power batteries do a good job of intellectual property protection?

Jiang Tao pointed out that power battery enterprises should strengthen the attention and management of technical secrets, and learn from the experience of LG Chem and SK Innovation cases, learn to use trade secret litigation to protect their rights. In turn, enterprises should consider whether there is a risk of infringing trade secrets when introducing technical talents. Enterprises should make clear what content is suitable for technical secret protection, what content is suitable for patent protection, through reverse engineering to learn the technology, it is recommended to protect through the form of patent, the potential loss of talent flow to a minimum.

"Behind the enterprise's rise to numerous lawsuits is the huge market interest in the field of lithium batteries in the future. Where there are interests, there will be disputes, and there will be more and more patent and trade secret lawsuits in the field of lithium batteries in the future." Jiang Tao further stated that LG Chem is one of the most active patent applicants in the field of lithium batteries, and it will not rule out the possibility of relying on its own patent advantages to prevent domestic companies from entering overseas markets, especially those with similar technologies. Therefore, domestic enterprises should do a good job of risk investigation and patent layout in advance.

"A clever woman cannot cook without rice". According to Xu Yi, president of Yinghe Technology, it is not enough for enterprises to pay attention to technology protection and write enough patents. Research and development is the basis of patent layout. Enterprises must continue to carry out technological innovation and have a sense of crisis. Jiang Tao stressed that enterprises can grasp the development trend and trend of technology under research and accelerate the process of research and development by making good use of patent information resources. Enterprises should not only be satisfied with patent applications, but also consider entering a new level of "creating a safe and free environment for enterprise operation with controllable risks. For example, in the process of research and development, for the purpose of preventing risks, do a good job in the analysis of technical themes and competitors, combine the results of existing technology search, around the research and development projects, carry out core patent planning and layout, appropriate overseas patent applications, improve the ability of technical personnel to apply patent information, and establish a high-level intellectual property team.