(Yicai) Dec. 27 -- The Supreme People’s Court of China has thrown out Aux Air Conditioning’s long-standing lawsuit of patent infringement against rival Gree Electric Appliances and overturned previous rulings that requested Gree to pay compensation to Aux, Chinese white goods maker Gree said today.

The Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court has ruled that that the air conditioner patent bought by Aux from Japan’s Toshiba in 2018 does not meet the necessary conditions and is invalid, Gree said, citing the final judgment of the second instance on the infringement case between Gree and Aux that was delivered on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8. Gree also denied online rumors that Aux received CNY58.5 million (USD8.2 million) from Gree for patent infringement

Ningbo-based Aux has yet to comment.

The matter brings to a close five years of wrangling which started when Aux bought compressor patents from Toshiba and then sued Zhuhai-based Gree for intellectual property rights infringement. Aux won the first rounds of four court cases in Ningbo and Hangzhou in 2021 and 2022 respectively and Gree was sentenced to compensate Aux more than CNY220 million (USD30.8 million).

But Gree fought back, claiming that Aux has made no real contribution to the compressor sector and its victory has meant that the real innovators in the industry are unable to benefit. Gree took the matter to the China National Intellectual Property Administration which ruled in August 2021 that Aux’s patents were partially valid. But this decision was then revoked by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

The case was then referred to the Supreme People's Court. In the hearing in April, Gree maintained that Aux did not research, develop or produce compressors, but bought a Japanese patent that was about to expire and filed a lawsuit against Gree to obtain compensation of CNY220 million.

Aux responded that it is normal to claim rights to its lawful patents.

Editor: Kim Taylor