Chinese EV battery giant CATL increases size of patents lawsuit against state-owned rival CALB to US$76.5 million
- CATL raises the damages it says were caused by CALB’s infringement upon its intellectual property by 176 per cent from the previous 185 million yuan claim it made in July 2021
- The firms are currently embroiled in a dispute over jurisdiction, source says
CATL did not disclose any further details about the lawsuit, and it is not known which patents are involved in the case. A source with knowledge of the matter said the two firms were still embroiled in a dispute over jurisdiction.
The legal dispute between CATL and CALB, mainland China’s third-largest EV battery maker, could have far-reaching implications for the world’s largest EV market amid Beijing’s ambition of turning China into a global leader in the automobiles sector.
“The EV industry cannot flourish unless a complete supply chain is created,” said Gao Shen, an independent analyst in Shanghai. “Core technologies in battery, a key component in EVs, are important. Therefore, the lawsuit has already attracted the attention of industry officials.”
State-owned CALB, which is based in Changzhou, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, could not be reached for comment on Monday.