He pointed out that amid the booming industry trend of ternary lithium batteries, especially high-nickel ternary batteries, many domestic cathode material companies face huge foreign patent fees during their development. The association will hold a special discussion on this issue soon to take countermeasures to alleviate the cost pressure on enterprises.
So, what is the current state of patent technology layout for ternary lithium battery materials in China?
Core patents must enable a "leapfrog development" strategy.
Professionals have compiled statistics on domestic and international patents in the field of ternary materials. The results show that: First, the development of ternary materials in China started late, and there is a lack of basic and core patents. There is still a significant gap compared with Japanese and Korean companies, as well as American companies such as 3M.
For example, on November 15, 2005, 3M obtained US patent US6964828B2 and its family of patents CN100403585C for NiCoMn ternary materials. These patents mainly limit the Ni content in NiCoMn and have become the basic core patents for ternary materials, which still restrict the development of ternary materials in China's lithium battery industry.
Secondly, patents related to the modification of ternary materials mainly focus on improving electrochemical performance, but safety and cost issues have not seen effective breakthroughs. In contrast to the rapid growth of invention patents for improving electrochemical performance, the growth in applications related to the safety and cost reduction of ternary materials has been relatively slow. This also indicates that despite a significant increase in R&D investment and the paramount importance of battery safety, the safety and cost issues of ternary materials have not been effectively addressed.
Taking the invention patent "Preparation Method of Titanium Sol Coating Modified Ternary Cathode Material" from a domestic research institute as an example, this invention patent modifies ternary cathode materials by optimizing the coating process, which can effectively improve the initial coulombic efficiency and discharge specific capacity of the material, but does not significantly improve other aspects such as the cycle performance of the material. Moreover, the coating process requires a large amount of alcohol, which places high demands on process equipment and workshop conditions (explosion-proof workshop), and the recycling of alcohol also requires additional processing costs.
Based on the above analysis, Battery China believes that domestic cathode material companies need to pay close attention to two points: First, domestic ternary material patent applications are relatively scattered, especially with leading companies having limited involvement, resulting in a weak overall research atmosphere. Domestic companies need to prioritize cathode material R&D and intellectual property protection. Second, there is significant room for improvement in the safety and cost aspects of ternary materials. Foreign applicants' strategies are not yet fully developed. If domestic companies can increase R&D investment in these areas and acquire core patents as early as possible, they may be able to achieve a "leapfrog development" in the ternary material field.
Patent licensing may be a last resort
Industry consensus suggests that, in addition to actively prioritizing independent research and development and the protection of intellectual property rights, patent licensing among domestic cathode material companies is also an option for sustainable industrial development. Battery China Network has found the following recent patent portfolio updates from cathode material companies:
In January 2018 and November 2017, BASF announced sublicenses granted to Ruixiang New Materials and Peking University Pioneer respectively to patents related to nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode materials from Argonne National Laboratory in the United States. Following the licenses, the two companies are authorized to manufacture, use, sell, offer for sale, distribute, and import NCM cathode materials in the U.S. market.
On January 29, Dow Chemical Company and Shanghai Huayi (Group) Company signed a technology licensing agreement, under which Dow will non-exclusively license two core technologies for cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron manganese phosphate (LMFP) and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC).
Based on the above licensing information, as domestic power battery and ternary material companies accelerate their entry into the international market, some domestic ternary material companies have to strengthen their patent portfolios in order to gain relevant operational freedom and cooperate with battery customers to cope with the stringent qualification reviews abroad.
Tang Shunguo, Chairman and General Manager of Ruixiang New Materials, stated, "We highly respect intellectual property rights and attach great importance to the patent sub-licensing of nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode materials. This sub-licensing is of great strategic significance to both us and our downstream customers."
In reality, very few domestic ternary material companies purchase patents. There are two main reasons for this: first, the cost of purchasing patents is high, which is almost unaffordable for small and medium-sized enterprises; second, domestic policies are relatively lenient, especially the relevant legal system is not perfect, leading some companies to take chances.
Industry insiders believe that patent licensing and disputes between domestic and foreign companies will become increasingly common. Therefore, regardless of whether domestic companies choose patent licensing or take alternative approaches, accelerating patent layout is a necessary guarantee for the sustainable development of the industry.
Undoubtedly, domestic ternary material companies must eliminate the risk of patent infringement in order to grow and become stronger globally.
Learning from the past is essential for the future. Those familiar with the development of China's lithium battery industry will surely remember the "patent invalidation case" in the lithium iron phosphate battery industry in 2012. The China Patent Reexamination Board ruled that the patents of three companies, including Hydro-Quebec of Canada, which claimed to own lithium iron phosphate battery technology, were invalid.
It is understood that the Canadian company's patent application covers almost all aspects of current lithium iron phosphate battery production technology. If this patent were pursued, most domestic battery manufacturers would be infringing on its patents. Furthermore, if the foreign company were to pursue this, it would mean that Chinese battery manufacturers producing lithium iron phosphate batteries would need to pay patent fees to the patent holder. The foreign company's demands were also very high: a one-time patent entry fee of $10 million or $2,500 per ton of lithium iron phosphate. Fortunately, this patent dispute, crucial to the development of China's lithium iron phosphate battery industry and new energy vehicle industry, ended in failure for the foreign company.
However, the numerous experiences and lessons learned from this incident are worth considering for colleagues in the domestic lithium battery industry. Given the current booming development of new energy vehicles, leading domestic lithium battery companies, especially those aspiring to compete in the international market, should learn from this experience and strategically plan their core patented technologies for ternary materials in a more long-term and strategic manner.
