Recently, two civil judgments from the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang Province (hereinafter referred to as: Ningbo Intermediate Court) showed that Oaks Air Conditioning Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Oaks Air Conditioning) sued Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliances Co., Ltd. (Gree Electric, 000651.SZ) and Ningbo Yonge Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Yonge Company) have concluded two cases of infringement of invention patent rights. Gree Electric needs to compensate Oaks air conditioners for a total of approximately 167 million yuan.
The defendants in the first judgment include Gree Electric and Yongge Company, and the document number is (2019) Zhejiang 02 Minchu No. 165. The defendants in the second judgment include Gree Electric Appliances and Ningbo Jiangbei Tianze Home Appliance Maintenance Department (hereinafter referred to as: Tianze Maintenance Department). The document number is (2019) Zhejiang 02 Minchu No. 183.
In June 2018, the plaintiff Oaks Electric received in a notarized manner the air conditioner marked "GREE" (KFR-35GW/(35592)FNhDa-A3) purchased from the defendant Yongge Company. ; In January 2019, the plaintiff Oaks Electric entrusted an agent to purchase a Pinyuan (KFR-26GW/(26592)FNhDa-A3) air conditioner with the "GREE" logo from the Tianze Maintenance Department.
After the Ningbo Intermediate Court accepted the above two cases in January 2019, the defendant Gree Electric once raised a jurisdiction objection. After the Ningbo Intermediate Court ruled to reject it, Gree Electric appealed to the Supreme People's Court. It was rejected again and the original ruling was upheld.
It is worth noting that Gree Electric has twice applied to the State Intellectual Property Office to declare the patents involved in the case invalid. In September 2021, the State Intellectual Property Office only issued a document declaring that the patent right was partially invalid.
Regarding the first two focuses, the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court entrusted the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center to issue a judicial appraisal opinion. Gree Electric submitted a notarial certificate and notarized physical objects for technical defense during the trial. The National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center The Information Security Development Research Center also conducted a forensic appraisal of the physical object as entrusted. In addition, Gree Electric also invited expert assistants to appear in court to express opinions on professional issues.