Meituan and Ele.me go back to court in March as the bitter rivals continue fight over smart locker patents

Meituan will defend itself against claims of patent infringement from Ele.me in Chongqing starting March 6, the latest in a series of legal challenges

The patents revolve around smart lockers, which surged in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic as people ordered more online while trying to limit contact

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Drivers of food delivery service Ele.me (in blue) and Meituan (in yellow) seen in Beijing on April 11, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:00pm, 1 Feb 2023Updated: 9:10pm, 1 Feb 2023

Chinese food and on-demand delivery giant Meituan is set to face arch-rival Ele.me in court as it defends itself against allegations of patent infringement, according to an announcement posted to the Chongqing Court website.

The case, which will be heard on March 6 at the First Intermediate People’s Court in the southwestern city of Chongqing, is the latest development in a series of legal challenges that Alibaba Group Holding-backed Ele.me brought against Meituan since last year over patents related to smart lockers, a service that gained interest from both companies during a pandemic-fuelled e-commerce surge.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Meituan and Ele.me did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

From April to August last year, Ele.me sued Meituan subsidiaries Shanghai Sankuai Technology and Beijing Sankuai Technology in at least three cases in Chongqing and eastern provinces Jiangsu and Zhejiang, according to corporate data provider Qichacha.

Two of the lawsuits revolve around patents ZL202011424073.5 and ZL202110527378.7 that were awarded to Ele.me in February and May 2021, respectively. The first is for allowing third-party companies to access proprietary lockers, while the second involves a method of allowing customers to retrieve their orders from lockers without using passwords.

The use of smart lockers has spread rapidly in China over the past three years, when millions of people confined to their homes during lockdowns relied heavily on food delivery platforms while also seeking to reduce unnecessary contact with others.

Three days after Wuhan announced a lockdown on January 23, 2020, Meituan started piloting contactless takeaway orders in the capital city of China’s central Hubei province, where more than 11 million people reside.