Intellectual property protection of lithium battery industry is imminent!
"With the vigorous development of new energy vehicles and power battery industry, the importance of intellectual property protection in domestic and overseas markets is becoming increasingly prominent. At present, lithium battery intellectual property litigation cases occur from time to time, and it is difficult for enterprises to safeguard their rights. " Zeng Yuqun, member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of Ningde times, called for strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights of lithium batteries in the proposals of this year's NPC and CPPCC sessions.
"The rapid development of any pharmaceutical industry, such as intellectual property, communications and so on. With the decline of subsidies for new energy vehicles, enterprises focus their competition on technology and market, and intellectual property litigation is the extension of market and technology competition, which will inevitably lead to confrontation. " Jiang Tao, deputy general manager of the data and consulting division of Beijing Chaofan Intellectual Property Management Consulting Co., Ltd., told reporters that from the second half of 2019, it is obvious that the number of intellectual property lawsuits in the field of lithium batteries is increasing.
In 2020, there were two typical property rights lawsuits in the lithium battery industry -- Ningde times sued Jiangsu Tafel for patent infringement, claiming that the latter manufactured and sold a number of battery products of the same or similar models; LG Chemical accused skinnovation of stealing core technology, causing great concern in the industry.
Lithium battery is a technology intensive industry. Patent application is an effective measure to grasp the core technology and protect intellectual property rights. The content can be subdivided into materials, cells, modules, supporting facilities, testing and other aspects. However, it is difficult to protect intellectual property rights of lithium battery enterprises. In this regard, Tang Xiaolin, a senior researcher of lithium battery recycling, pointed out that lithium batteries are generally divided into chemical and material categories. The former's processing process and method involve technical secrets, so it is difficult to obtain evidence in the other party's workshop; the structural category is relatively intuitive, and the success rate of safeguarding rights is higher.
Zeng Yuqun further said that in a case, the lithium battery manufacturer usually notarizes the purchase of at least two models, at least two for each model, which is expensive and has a long period of rights protection. The whole process of the case takes about three years, and the replacement cycle of lithium battery products is seriously delayed.
In Jiang Tao's view, there are two situations of intentional infringement and unintentional infringement in the field of lithium battery intellectual property rights. For example, some enterprises directly copy or improve other people's patented technology; technical personnel flow normally, but their design ideas do not break away from the previous framework and fall into the scope of their old owners' patent rights.
Cao Guoqing, Deputy Secretary General of Beijing resource recycling and environmental protection industry technology innovation strategic alliance, said frankly that power battery is the key component of new energy vehicles, but on the whole, China's basic material research time is short, basic research investment and strength are relatively weak, and its core technology patents still need to be improved.
In recent years, the risk of battery infringement has been paid more and more attention. "Before going out to sea, enterprises will carry out patent risk investigation. Sometimes they show the infringing patents to the enterprises, and the enterprises do not know that they have infringed other people's patents at all. There is contingency and inevitability in the development of technology. The same research may have been carried out in a certain direction of R & D, but foreign countries took the lead. " Jiang Tao reminded that some infringement risks are unknown, and "going out" needs to deal with compliance issues.
At the same time, how to protect the technological advantages of Chinese enterprises? Jiang Tao said frankly that the overseas patent layout of domestic enterprises is insufficient, and the number of overseas patent applications is often less than 10% of their total patents, or even lower. "Compared with the large number of patent layout of Japanese and Korean battery enterprises in China, Europe and the United States, the patent awareness of Chinese enterprises still needs to be improved. If our products are exported to foreign countries without patent protection, there will be the risk of being imitated. "
Jiang Tao pointed out that compared with foreign enterprises who will carry out battery technology research and development and patent layout 5-10 years in advance, Chinese enterprises are relatively backward in this respect. "When Chinese enterprises want to use these technologies, they are difficult to bypass the basic patents they have applied for, and will fall into a passive situation in intellectual property competition and market competition."