(Yicai Global) Feb. 21 -- Shares in China Lithium Battery Technology Group, also known as CALB, tumbled as much as 3.3 percent today after a Chinese court ordered the Chinese electric car battery maker to pay compensation to archrival Contemporary Amperex Technology for infringing a battery patent. It follows a similar ruling against CALB in a separate lawsuit a few months earlier.

CALB’s share price [HKG:3931] was trading down 0.6 percent at HKD22.25 (USD2.84) as of 12 noon China time. Earlier in the day it slumped to HKD21.65. While CATL’s stock [SHE:300750] was trading down 1 percent at CNY416 (USD60.50).

CALB must pay CNY35.8 million (USD5.2 million) in compensation for economic losses to CATL and must immediately halt infringing on Ningde, southeastern Fujian province-based firm’s patent, the Fuzhou Intermediate Court in Fujian province ruled in a first-instance judgment recently.

As soon as the judgement was released, CALB submitted a request to the China National Intellectual Property Administration to invalidate the patent involved and said it will appeal.

CALB is no longer using the product involved in the litigation as it has already reached the end of its life cycle and has been replaced by more advanced technology, Changzhou, eastern Jiangsu province-based CALB said today. So the judgement will not have an adverse effect on the company’s operations and performance, it added.

This is just one of a string of IP lawsuits over battery technologies that CATL has lodged against CALB since the second half of 2021. Altogether, CATL is seeking CNY648 million (USD95.7 million) in compensation, nearly six times CALB’s 2021 net profit.

In a separate lawsuit, which was ruled upon by the Fuzhou Intermediate Court in November last year, CALB was ordered to pay CNY2.6 million (USD378,000) for economic losses, CNY127,500 (USD18,560) worth of patent fees and CNY200,000 in litigation charges to CATL. It was still a fraction of the CNY78 million that CATL had been seeking.

Another three patent lawsuits are still in the courts.

CATL dominated the world’s EV battery market in the first nine months last year with a 35.1 percent share, shipping 119.8 gigawatt hours of batteries, according to South Korean research agency SNE Research. CALB was in seventh place, claiming 4 percent of the market with 13.7 GWh. In China, CATL is the biggest supplier, followed by BYD and CALB.

Editor: Kim Taylor