Photo Source: Yicai Global

Changzhou Tiansheng New Materials Group has lost its RMB 98.6 million patent infringement lawsuit against its rival Visight Advanced Material, according to an announcement made by Tiansheng on October 10.

The Supreme People’s Court ruled in favor of Visight, affirming the China National Intellectual Property Administration's (CNIPA) decision from September 2023 to invalidate the patent in question. The court dismissed Tiansheng’s administrative lawsuit, confirming the CNIPA’s finding that the patent lacked inventiveness.

The dispute dates back to February 2023 when Tiansheng sued Visight in the Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court, accusing the company’s VICELL-V series products of infringing its patent for “An Improved Crosslinked Polyvinyl Chloride Structural Foam and Its Preparation Method” (Patent No. ZL200910033041.X). Tiansheng sought to stop Visight’s alleged infringement, demand the destruction of the infringing products, and claim RMB 98 million in damages, as well as RMB 600,000 in legal costs.

Visight responded by challenging the patent’s validity before the CNIPA. In September 2023, the CNIPA ruled the patent invalid for lack of inventiveness, which led the the Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court to reject Tiansheng’s claims.

Tiansheng then appealed the first-instance judgment of the Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court to the Supreme People’s Court, while also filing an administrative lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court challenging the patent invalidation decision, which it further appealed up to the Supreme People’s Court. Ultimately, the Supreme People’s Court upheld the CNIPA’s invalidation decision, confirming that the patent was invalid and dismissing Tiansheng’s claims.

The legal battle, however, has impacted Visight beyond the courtroom. The lawsuit was filed during a critical phase of Visight’s IPO process. The ongoing litigation, along with Tiansheng’s other patent invalidation requests filed against Visight in March 2023, caused significant setbacks. Four of these patents were invalidated, and the IPO application was ultimately withdrawn in April 2024.

In February 2025, nearly a year after abandoning its IPO attempt, Visight filed a countersuit against Tiansheng for RMB 80 million and a public apology, alleging that Tiansheng’s “malicious IP litigation” caused it to fail to meet the listing requirements and review thresholds, ultimately missing the IPO window and being forced to withdraw its listing application. The court rejected Visight’s counterclaim in July 2025, according to Tiansheng’s announcement.

Tiansheng New Materials Group, founded in 1998 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s Growth Enterprise Market in 2011, specializes in polymer foam materials. Its products include flexible foam materials, structural foam materials, and related post-processing products.

Visight Advanced Material, established in 2011, focuses on high-performance structural foam materials, with core products such as PVC and PET structural foam.