2024.04.24
Branson Ultrasonics secures patent invalidation amidst market challenges
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Branson Ultrasonics (Shanghai) Co Ltd [必能(néng)信超聲（上海）有限公司], a subsidiary of the America’s Emerson Electric, operates in the ultrasonic welding equipment sector, offering global solutions for plastic and metal welding as well as precision cleaning.
The market, however, saw an influx of similar products to Branson Ultrasonics’, which were sold at lower prices, thus causing market disruption and infringing on Branson Ultrasonics’ intellectual property rights. The prospect of a rival company's listing on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board further heightened the competitive landscape.
In March 2022, Branson Ultrasonics appointed Wang Dong from Globe-Law Lawyers to provide legal counsel for the invalidation of patents numbered ZL202121890088.0 and ZL201610637844.6.
Challenges and complexities
The anticipation surrounding a rival company's initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market) presented Branson Ultrasonics with the twofold challenge of protecting its technology and contending with fierce market rivalry.
The company's core technologies, which are a major source of its revenue and are detailed in the IPO prospectus, are related to patented inventions. Rival companies sought to protect similar technological solutions through extensive patent filings, including those for inventions, utility models, and designs, while also laying claim to multiple priorities, thereby creating a landscape fraught with both technical and legal complexities.
The legal case involved simultaneous consideration of invention and utility model patent applications. Different types of applications necessitated distinct approaches, prompting the legal team to devise a comprehensive targeting strategy. This involved selecting the most pertinent patents held by competitors for thorough invalidity and patentability evaluations, with the objective of protecting Branson's intellectual property.
Legal work
Globe-Law Lawyers’ team, led by Wang Dong, conferred in depth with Branson Ultrasonics’ intellectual property department to fully comprehend the company's requirements and circumstances. In the face of a significant volume of patents from competitors, the team judiciously selected several pivotal patents concerning the competitor's ultrasonic metal welding machines for invalidation.
A multilingual search strategy was employed, encompassing languages beyond Chinese and English. Targeting key nations where metal welding machine research is prominent, the legal team undertook searches in those countries' languages, assembling a more extensive array of comparative documents to fortify the legal basis of the case.
In tackling the complex legal nuances associated with priority rights, the legal team conducted an exhaustive legal analysis. They clarified the legal relationships and assessed various situations where priority rights might or might not be applicable, thereby assembling a robust argumentative framework for the patent invalidation request.
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