(Yicai Global) Nov. 30 -- Shares in China Lithium Battery Technology, also known as CALB, surged by as much as 11.2 percent today after the Chinese electric car battery maker said it is appealing a first-instance judgement in which the company was ordered to stop selling any patent-infringing products and pay compensation to its archrival Contemporary Amperex Technology.

CALB’s share price [HKG:3931] closed up 5.4 percent at HKD19.34 (USD2.48). Earlier in the day it hit HKD20.40. While CATL’s stock [SHE:300750] edged up 1.8 percent to end the day at CNY385 (USD55).

CALB has been ordered to immediately cease selling any patent-infringing products, CALB said today, citing the judgement it received from a court in Fuzhou, southeastern Fujian province yesterday.

But CALB is utilizing technology that is more advanced than those involved in the patent disputes and therefore does not need to stop selling its products, the Changzhou, eastern Jiangsu-based company said. CALB will appeal the Supreme People’s Court first-instance judgement and therefore does not need to pay compensation now, it added.

The battery maker has been ordered to pay CNY2.6 million (USD366,000) for economic losses, CNY127,500 (USD17,849) worth of patent fees and CNY200,000 in litigation charges to Ningde, Fujian province-based CATL.

Amounting to under CNY3 million, it is less than a quarter of the CNY12 million in compensation and CNY500,000 in patent fees that CATL had been asking for.

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

CATL dominated the world’s EV battery market in the first three quarters 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.

Editor: Kim Taylor