Midea loses patent suit to Gree
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Xinhua, November 14, 2011
One leading home appliances manufacturer Midea lost a patent lawsuit to one of its archrivals, being ordered to stop the infringing act and pay a fine.
The Guangdong Provincial Supreme People's Court upheld the verdict made by the Zhuhai City Intermediate People's Court, settling the three-year intellectual property dispute between Midea Electric Appliances and Gree Electric, both being listed in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Midea is also subject to a fine of 2 million yuan ($315,000), according to the supreme court ruling.
China's largest air conditioner producer Gree filed the lawsuit against Midea in 2008, after finding four models of Midea products copied its patented "sleep" function technology, an invention which helps adjust room temperature in users' sleeps according to their preferences.
The Zhuhai intermediate court decided Midea guilty of the patent infringement in April 2011. Midea, however, appealed to the higher court.
During the litigation, Midea applied to the State Intellectual Property Office to revoke Gree's patent of invention, but failed in September 2009.
China manufactures more than 100 million air conditioners yearly, accounting for roughly 80 percent of the world's total output.
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