On February 14, it was reported that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) sued honeycomb energy for unfair competition.
In response to the news, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) replied to the reporter of Securities Daily on the 14th day, saying: “the case is in legal proceedings, and the company will not respond.”
In addition, honeycomb energy replied that it had paid attention to the reports of relevant media about Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) suing our company for unfair competition. The company was actively preparing to respond to the lawsuit and believed that the court would make a fair judgment.
Lawyer Zhang Jianhao, a partner of Beijing Weinuo law firm, analyzed to the reporter of Securities Daily: “this Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) prosecution of honeycomb energy unfair competition belongs to the aftermath of the dispute over the non competition restriction of resigned employees before Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) . Through this lawsuit, it is intended to consolidate its own trade secrets and build an intellectual property moat.”
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) fight another lawsuit for rights protection
The reporter of Securities Daily checked the tianyancha app and found that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) added a new opening announcement. The defendants include Wuxi Tianhong Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., Baoding Yixin Consulting Service Co., Ltd. and honeycomb Energy Technology Co., Ltd. the relevant cause of the case is unfair competition dispute. The case will be heard in the first court of Ningde intermediate people’s court in Fujian Province on February 23.
According to judicial risk information, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and honeycomb energy and other related unfair competition disputes began in early May last year. Several legal documents related to non competition disputes related to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) show that after leaving, several Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) employees joined Wuxi Tianhong and Baoding Yixin respectively to provide services for Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) competitor honeycomb energy.
According to reports, the court found that Wuxi Tianhong and Baoding Yixin were both related parties of honeycomb energy. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) believes that the nine resigned employees have violated the confidentiality and non competition agreement signed with them, so they are required to compensate 1 million yuan as liquidated damages.
“The employees with non competition stipulated in Article 24 of the labor contract law of the people’s Republic of China have the obligation of confidentiality. In the end, the court ruled that the resigned employees have violated the obligation of non competition, which constitutes a breach of contract. If Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) has obtained the evidence of divulging relevant trade secrets to honeycomb energy and its affiliated companies through previous litigation, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) It may be supported by the court. ” Lawyer Zhang Jianhao said.
According to the third paragraph of Article 9 of the Anti Unfair Competition Law of the people’s Republic of China newly revised in 2019: “if a third party still obtains, discloses, uses or allows others to use the trade secret while knowing or should know the employees, former employees or other units or individuals of the obligee of the trade secret to commit the illegal acts listed in the first paragraph of this article, it shall be deemed to have infringed the trade secret.” Paragraph 4 stipulates: “trade secrets as mentioned in this Law refer to technical information, business information and other business information that is not known to the public, has commercial value and has been kept confidential by the obligee.”
It is worth mentioning that as early as last year’s two sessions, Zeng Yuqun, member of the National Committee of the Chinese people’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) submitted a proposal, saying that “at present, lithium battery intellectual property litigation cases occur from time to time, and it is difficult for enterprises to safeguard their rights. In the process of safeguarding their rights, there are some problems, such as difficult evidence collection, high cost, long period of safeguarding their rights, and difficulties in safeguarding the rights of trade secrets”.
In July last year, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) filed an indictment on the patent infringement case of AVIC lithium battery. At that time, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) said that the patents involved involved involved invention and utility model patents. The suspected infringing batteries have been carried on tens of thousands of vehicles.
In this regard, AVIC lithium issued a statement saying that the company had submitted the invalidation requests of the above two sued patents to the State Intellectual Property Office on the same day. The company insists on independent research and development, and the products provided to customers have been subject to comprehensive risk investigation by the professional intellectual property team. The company is sure that its products do not infringe the intellectual property rights of others.
In recent years, there have been constant disputes in the field of power batteries. In addition to the rights protection of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) , LG Chemical has also initiated four lawsuits to the US International Trade Commission (ITC), accusing sk of infringing its patents, and then accusing sk of stealing its trade secrets. In the next two years, after many exchanges, the two sides finally reached a settlement, and SK finally paid 2 trillion won of compensation to LG Chemical.
increased competition among battery manufacturers
According to the analysis of insiders, the disputes in the field of power batteries mainly stem from the huge market interests in the new energy vehicle market. “It has become a common phenomenon in the industry to recruit people from well-known enterprises and bring technology into the factory. In this way, new lithium battery companies will quickly obtain relevant technologies and seize the power battery market of new energy vehicles. In addition, it is also common to conduct benchmarking analysis and reverse research and development by purchasing friendly products.”
In the view of insiders, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) is facing not only intellectual property rights protection, but competition from more and more power battery manufacturers.
The insider told the Securities Daily: “nowadays, the competition among battery manufacturers is intensifying, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) has to face the competitive pressure of other manufacturers with considerable technical strength, including LG, Byd Company Limited(002594) , China Innovation Airlines (formerly AVIC lithium battery), Gotion High-Tech Co.Ltd(002074) . Technically, each company also has some different technical routes and competitive advantages, such as Byd Company Limited(002594) .” Blade, high voltage ternary of zhongchuangxin aviation, etc. “
The industry believes that the rapid development of China Innovation airlines and other Chinese manufacturers has formed a certain competitive pressure and threat to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) . According to the data, Byd Company Limited(002594) in 2021, the global installed capacity was 26.3gwh, ranking the fourth in the world, with a year-on-year increase of 168.37%, and the market share increased from 6.7% in 2020 to 8.8%; The installed capacity of China Innovation Airlines ranked seventh was 7.9gwh, with a year-on-year increase of 132.35%; The installed capacity of honeycomb energy, which ranked 10th, increased by 416.67% year-on-year, from 0.6gwh in 2020 to 3.1gwh.
According to the above insiders, although the global installed capacity reached 96.7gwh in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) 2021, the market share was 32.6%, ranking first in the world. However, with the expansion of the scale of other battery manufacturers, it will bring some pressure to the future development of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) .
