French electrics company Schneider has agreed to pay Chint Group Rmb157.5 million (US$23 million) in order to end a three-year patent lawsuit, a court in Zhejiang province said in April.
Tianjin-based Schneider Electric Low Voltage, of which Schneider owns 75%, agreed to pay Chint Group for infringing Chint’s patent on electrical technology, according to the agreement reached at the provincial court. Other details of the settlement were not released.
The Wenzhou intermediate people's court in September 2007 ordered Schneider to pay Rmb334.8 million in compensation, ruling that five Schneider models were based on Chint technology. Schneider appealed the ruling, citing invalidation of the patented technology.
Nan Cunhui, board chairman of Chint, told the China Daily that Chint's success will spur Chinese enterprises to pay closer attention to protecting their intellectual property rights and using recourse to law to protect themselves.
