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LG Chem patent challenged in China as fight for battery dominance comes to a head

Published: 03 Apr. 2025, 06:00

LG Chem's Cheongju plant in North Chungcheong [LG CHEM]

LG Chem’s battery patent has been challenged in China, bringing its dispute in the country to a head. Patent clashes between Korean and Chinese manufacturers have intensified as the two countries vie for sales in the global market, especially in Europe.

An undisclosed individual requested a trial with the China National Intellectual Property Administration, China’s intellectual property regulator, to invalidate LG Chem’s nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode material patent early this year.

Industry insiders informed the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, of the development on Tuesday. Some suspected the claimant to be Chinese battery firm Ronbay Technology. Individuals who are not company stakeholders can file for such patent invalidation trials in China, unlike Korea.

Cathode materials are a key component in EV batteries, making up 40 percent of a unit's production costs. Korea is considered to have a leg up on China in terms of NCM cathode material technology. LG Chem alone has around 1,300 cathode material-related patents worldwide.

Ronbay Technology is China’s leading producer of NCM cathode material and is currently embroiled in a patent dispute with LG Chem.

The Korean firm claimed that Ronbay’s Korean subsidiary infringed upon its NCM cathode material intellectual property in a patent infringement injunction filed with the Seoul Central District Court in August. It was the first patent lawsuit between Korean and Chinese EV battery manufacturers.

The patent challenged more recently is a patent family, or a collection of patent applications that relate to the same invention, and is related to one filed in China.

Trucks move near LG Chem's plant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, on Nov. 30, 2020. [KIM SEONG-TAE]

The motion is interpreted as retaliation on China’s side after LG Chem launched its patent infringement lawsuit.

“We will take appropriate measures so that our patent rights are recognized by Chinese authorities,” a spokesperson for LG Chem said.

Should Chinese regulators invalidate the disputed patent, Ronbay is expected to use this to back itself in the lawsuit in Korea. The Chinese government tends to make favorable rulings for its domestic companies.

“Although patents are enforced differently by country, if the rulings on similar patents diverge in Korea and China, this could escalate into a wider international dispute,” said Son Bo-in, a patent attorney at law firm Class Kanhyul.

“In cases like this, I expect Korean firms to respond by filing a patent infringement injunction in regions like Europe,” Son added.

Ronbay claims that it has not infringed LG Chem’s intellectual property and has requested a patent invalidation trial with Seoul's patent regulator against the Korean manufacturer.

Other industry insiders believe the claimant isn’t Ronbay but a different Chinese firm that used LG Chem’s patented technology without authorization. According to them, this was a pre-emptive lawsuit filed in case the Korean firm decided to take active measures against patent infringement.

“Patents are Korean companies’ main weapon in staying ahead of China,” said Sun Yang-kook, an energy engineering professor at Hanyang University.

“It is important that [companies] actively pursue litigation and negotiations to prevent patent infringement, and to take the lead in filing patents for next-generation technologies," Sun added.

Korea’s battery industry has gone on the defensive as market latecomers, including from China, expand their sales overseas with products developed without patent authorization.

LG Energy Solution sent warning notices to Chinese manufacturers and is currently negotiating license fees after declaring last year it would take strong action against “patent piggybacking.” The company has discovered a total of 580 cases of patent infringement.

The battery firm is taking a hard line against patent infringement by working with Japan’s Panasonic Energy and Tulip Innovation, a Hungary-based patent license broker.

LG Energy Solution currently has the most patents among domestic battery manufacturers with 38,398, followed by Samsung SDI with 21,846.

The market share of Korea’s three largest battery manufacturers in Europe dropped to 35.6 percent in January, down 15.4 percentage points on year, lagging significantly behind Chinese rivals including CATL with a market share of 56.3 percent.

“Korean battery firms appear to be using intellectual property as a strategic tool as Chinese firms accelerate their overseas market expansion,” an industry insider said.

“By requiring fair compensation, they could undercut the Chinese companies’ competitive edge in price and potentially create a new revenue stream through royalties.”

BY CHOI SUN-EUL [[email protected]]