SEYOND : Court Orders RMB400,000 Compensation in Patent Infringement Lawsuit With Hesai Technology

SEYOND (02665.HK) +0.030 (+1.115%) announced that among four patent infringement lawsuits filed by Hesai Technology (02525.HK) and its affiliated companies with the Intermediate People's Court of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province (Ningbo Intermediate Court), one case was dismissed because all disputed patents were invalidated, two cases were voluntarily withdrawn by the plaintiffs, and only one case received a first-instance judgment from the Ningbo Intermediate Court.

The first-instance judgment by the Ningbo Intermediate Court determined that, among the 14 claims asserted by the plaintiffs, SEYOND's technical solution did not fall within the protection scope of two claims, while the technical solutions corresponding to the other 11 claims had no substantive differences from existing technologies. Only the technical solution corresponding to dependent claim 18 was found to constitute infringement. The plaintiffs sought RMB5 million in compensation, while the court ordered compensation of RMB400,000 and also included an injunction against infringement.

SEYOND stated that the first-instance judgment has not yet taken effect and that it is assessing appeal strategies with legal advisers. Before the appeal process is concluded, the company is not required to pay compensation or comply with the injunction. The ruling has not affected production or sales. The company emphasized that requests to invalidate the patents involved in the case are still under review, and if the patents are declared invalid, the infringement allegations would lose their legal basis.

The accused product is the Lingque E1X lidar model, and the technology feature involved relates only to optical components. SEYOND's preliminary assessment indicates that technical upgrades and iterations can be implemented to avoid future products falling within the scope of others' intellectual property rights. The upgrades are not expected to have any material adverse impact on existing product manufacturing, sales, or research and development. SEYOND believes the overall litigation risk is controllable and will not have any material adverse impact on business operations, financial condition, or development prospects. (gc/a)(HK stocks quote is delayed for at least 15 mins.)