A Chinese low-voltage product company won a patent infringement
lawsuit against France's Schneider Electric and its Chinese sales
agent on Saturday. The suit involves 330 million yuan in
compensation.
A court in east China's Zhejiang Province ordered that the
Tianjin-based joint venture, in which Schneider holds 75 percent of
stakes, and its authorized distributor Leqing Branch of Star
Electric Equipment Co. Ltd. in Zhejiang, stop selling five models
of products that are based on the technology owned by Chint Group,
China's leading manufacturer of low-voltage electric apparatus.
In addition, the world's leading electric equipment maker should
pay 334.8 million yuan (US$44.6 million) within ten days to
compensate for Chint's economic losses due to the unauthorized
production and sales of the apparatus, according to the verdict
handed down by Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court on Saturday.
Court investigations show that Schneider earned 883.6
million yuan (US$117 million) by selling the five models of
apparatus, which fell in the protected scope of Chint's patent
right, from August 2004 to July 2006 and made a profit of 334.8
million yuan.
Chint filed the lawsuit against Schneider in August last
year.
The amount of compensation is believed to be the highest in
China so far in terms of intellectual property disputes.
The State Intellectual Property Office granted Chint with the
patent for a utility model of "a miniature circuit breaker" in
1999. Schneider used it in the manufacturing of C65a, C65N, C65H,
C65L and EA9AN products.
Before the court ruling, the State Intellectual Property Office
had refuted Schneider's application to invalidate the patented
technology, thus creating "a crucial step for Chint that confirms
the legal foundation of the case," said Xu Zhiwu, Chint's legal
representative.
Schneider's attorney Ding Chen said the company would possibly
file a lawsuit against the verdict all the way up to the Supreme
Court.
He noted that Schneider had sued for the validity of the
disputed technology in Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court.
The court began trial proceedings on Monday. The final ruling is
yet to be made.
The two rivals have been accusing each other over patent
infringement since 1999, which indicates fierce market
competition.
Chint grew from a small workshop with only 50,000 yuan as
initial investment into a competitive manufacturer of low-voltage
electric apparatus in the world market. It has been trying to
expand into Germany, Italy, France and some other countries once
dominated by Schneider.
Suing business rivals for patent infringement is a common tactic
that some transnational companies use to elbow out competitors and
dominate the market, said Nan Cunhui, board chairman of Chint.
Nan attributed the fast growth of his company to technological
innovation and intellectual property protection endeavors over the
past 23 years.
He said that winning the case against Schneider would help boost
the confidence of Chinese enterprises, encourage them to pursue
renovation and pay more attention to intellectual property
protection.
(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2007)
