On December 1, BYD Company Limited (“BYD”) was told that Tokyo High Court in Japan rendered the judgment on the appeal filed by Sony Corporation (“Sony”) sustaining the decision of Japan Patent Office (“JPO”) in which the patent No.2646657 owned by Sony was invalidated. As such, the lawsuit against BYD on the alleged infringement of a patent for battery brought by Sony, which lasted for over two years, came to end with Sony's failure.
As the largest battery manufacturer in China, BYD has become the second largest rechargeable battery manufacturer in the world following Sanyo Corporation. Nine months ago, BYD has just ended the three-year long patent dispute with Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. The two companies finally reached an agreement by making compromise.
In July 2003, Sony filed a lawsuit with Tokyo District Court alleging an infringement of two patents having claims of battery structure and thickness respectively in connection with rechargeable Li-batteries by BYD. Japan Patent Office made the decision in January this year that the patent on battery structure owned by Sony is invalid. In Mach this year, though Sony filed an appeal, Tokyo High Court rejected it.
