On February 19th, it is reported by IP Fray that Sol IP Sol IP filed two patent infringement complaints against Chinese automaker BYD with the Munich I Regional Court, which is the first-ever enforcement effort by an Avanci licensor against a Chinese car maker, attracting great attention in the industry.

This lawsuit sued by Sol IP is against BYD Europe B.V., a European subsidiary of BYD, involving two SEPs. The lawsuit requests include a finding of patent infringement and confirmation that Sol IP is entitled to damages. In terms of Sol IP's litigation history, the company mainly targets important companies in the telecommunications and automotive fields, and usually files lawsuits in the United States. However, this time, it chooses the Munich Court in Germany to file a lawsuit against BYD, which is considered a "rocket court" for global patent litigation due to its efficient patent litigation procedures and friendly position towards patent owners, indicating that Sol IP may be intended to speed up the litigation process and put more pressure on BYD.

What should be noticed is that in addition to BYD and Ford, in July 2024, Sol IP sued Vietnamese automaker VinFast for SEP infringement in the United States. In September of the same year, Avanci announced VinFast’ s joining its 4G licensing platform.

This may seem like a routine patent dispute, but in fact it uncovers the deep-seated IP issues in the globalization process of China's automobile industry. As China's automobile exports have maintained a growth rate of over 50%, the number of overseas patent disputes has also simultaneously increased, revealing the contradiction between the rapid industry expansion and the relatively weak intellectual property system.

In November 2024, the Indian steel company ArcelorMittal filed a patent lawsuit at the Unified Patent Court (UPC) against China’s Xpeng Motors, accusing Xpeng Motors and its 17 dealers in Germany, Luxembourg and other places of infringing its patent EP3290200B1, making Xpeng Motors the first Chinese automaker to be sued in the European Unified Patent Court.

These lawsuits are not only individual cases against a single automaker, but also a "stress test" by international patent holders on the pace of globalization of China's car makers, marking a key point in the transformation of China's auto industry from "scaled overseas expansion" to "compliant overseas expansion".

From AutoIP

February 21st, 2025