Photo source: Zoomlion

The patent infringement dispute between Changsha Zoomlion Environmental Industry Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion Environment") and Hubei Chengli Special Automobile Co., Ltd. ("Chengli") has reached its final conclusion, with the Supreme People's Court of China delivering a landmark ruling that sets a new compensation record for the specialized commercial vehicle industry.

The Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court, in its final appellate judgment under docket number (2024) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong No. 1253, rejected Chengli's appeal and upheld the lower court's decision. Chengli was ordered to pay Zoomlion Environment a total of RMB 24.19 million – comprising RMB 24,004,880 in economic damages and RMB 188,488.6 in reasonable legal expenses. The court also issued a permanent injunction, mandating that Chengli immediately cease the manufacture, sale, and offering for sale of the infringing products.

The RMB 24.19 million award represents a nearly threefold increase over the previous benchmark in the sector – the consolidated RMB 8.4 million judgment in the Sany Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. v. Qingdao Jiuhe Heavy Industry Machinery Co., Ltd. concrete pump truck case – signaling a robust judicial commitment to bolstering damages for intellectual property rights infringement.

The plaintiff, Changsha Zoomlion Environmental Industry Co., Ltd., was formerly the environmental sanitation division of Zoomlion Heavy Industry. Following an equity transfer completed between 2017 and 2018, it is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infore Environment Technology Group Co., Ltd., specializing in sanitation equipment and holding a substantial portfolio of invention patents related to street sweepers and cleaning suction nozzles. The defendant, Hubei Chengli Special Automobile Co., Ltd., established in September 2004, is headquartered in Suizhou, Hubei Province.

The litigation, which commenced in 2024, was accompanied by an aggressive invalidity strategy from Chengli. During the proceedings, Chengli challenged a total of six Zoomlion Environment patents before the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), filing multiple invalidation requests to undermine Zoomlion Environment's legal standing.

The six contested patents are:

Cleaner suction nozzle and cleaner vehicle (ZL201410624124.7)

Suction nozzle assembly and sweeper vehicle (ZL201611239086.9)

Suction pipe dust suppression device for suction-sweeping sweeper vehicles and sweeper vehicle (ZL201210590516.7)

Clean suction nozzle and clean vehicle (ZL201410624335.0)

Cleaning suction nozzle and cleaning vehicle (ZL201410624859.X)

Urban road curb and curbstone cleaning vehicle (ZL200610031818.5)

Chengli filed 12 invalidation petitions against these patents, with an additional 13th petition submitted personally by Chengli's legal representative, Cheng Aluo. The outcomes present a mixed picture:

ZL201611239086.9 – both invalidation requests were dismissed, patent maintained valid.

ZL201210590516.7 – both invalidation requests were dismissed, patent maintained valid.

ZL200610031818.5 – subject to 4 invalidation requests (the highest number among all contested patents), 2 concluded requests resulted in maintenance of validity, with 2 still pending.

ZL201410624124.7 – declared entirely invalid.

ZL201410624335.0 – upheld in the first round, but declared entirely invalid in the second.

ZL201410624859.X – similarly upheld first, then declared entirely invalid in the second round.

Industry analysts have pointed to ZL200610031818.5 (Urban road curb and curbstone cleaning vehicle) as "highly likely" to be the patent-in-suit in the underlying infringement litigation. This assessment is grounded in the fact that it attracted the most invalidation challenges (four in total) and demonstrated the greatest "resilience". However, as the full text of the Supreme Court judgment has not yet been publicly released, this correspondence remains a matter of reasonable inference from publicly available invalidation records.

It is worth noting that prior to the formal litigation, the two companies had already clashed in a government procurement proceeding. In April 2022, the Xiangyang Municipal Finance Bureau ruled in Chengli's favor on a procedural complaint regarding Zoomlion Environment's bid for the "2021 Sprinkler Vehicle Procurement" project, ordering a retender. However, allegations concerning non-compliant chassis specifications were dismissed. This earlier dispute foreshadowed the intense market rivalry that later escalated into the record-setting patent battle adjudicated by the Supreme People's Court.