After six years, a shocking "largest case of new energy vehicle technology secret infringement" involving a whopping 2.1 billion yuan in damages has finally come to a close.

This major case between Geely and WM Motor ended with Li Shufu's overwhelming victory and Shen Hui's crushing defeat. Why did these former bosses and executives, once known as a "golden partnership," end up in court?

1. The Industry's Largest Case Finally Concluded

Recently, the Supreme People's Court's Intellectual Property Tribunal issued a statement stating that the court has concluded a case involving infringement of new energy vehicle chassis technology secrets between Geely and WM Motor, triggered by a large number of employee "job hopping".

It is reported that the plaintiff, Geely, claimed damages of up to 2.1 billion yuan.

After the trial, the Supreme People's Court applied a 2-fold punitive compensation ruling in the second instance, with the infringer WM Motor compensating for economic losses and reasonable expenses for safeguarding rights, totaling approximately over 640 million yuan.

This means that Geely has achieved a complete victory in protecting its intellectual property rights, while WM Motor has paid a heavy price for its illegal infringement.

This case has three major highlights:

First, the case involves industry giants Geely and the new force in the automotive industry, WM Motor, with a huge stake and far-reaching impact. The Supreme People's Court's Intellectual Property Tribunal characterized it as "the largest case of new energy vehicle technology secret infringement".

Second, the case took a long time, spanning six years, with significant difficulties in evidence collection and trial.

Third, the compensation amount of 640 million yuan sets a new record high for intellectual property infringement lawsuits in China, which has a significant warning effect on the automotive industry and may effectively curb the occurrence of infringement in the industry.

2. The Enmity Between Li Shufu and Shen Hui

In fact, the two protagonists involved in this case, Geely's boss Li Shufu and WM Motor's boss Shen Hui, once had a close and beautiful time together.

A decade ago, during Li Shufu's breathtaking battle to acquire Volvo, the largest overseas merger and acquisition case in the history of China's automotive industry, Shen Hui played an important role.

This industry giant, who had served as a senior executive at global giants like BorgWarner and Fiat, joined Geely Holding Group as a director and vice president at Li Shufu's invitation.

He assisted Li Shufu in completing the acquisition of Volvo and was responsible for Volvo's landing in the Chinese market, earning him the title of a great contributor to Geely.

Later, Shen Hui left Geely and founded WM Motor, entering the new energy vehicle market. At that time, Shen Hui took away a large number of core personnel from Geely, especially talents in research and development, technology, and quality control.

People come and go in the industry, which is understandable.

However, Geely discovered that Shen Hui and his former Geely team utilized the new energy chassis technology and drawings they had accessed and mastered at Geely to apply for a large number of patents. Furthermore, WM Motor, without any technical accumulation or legitimate technical sources, launched the WM EX series of models in a short period of time, seriously infringing on Geely's legitimate rights and interests.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, Geely sued WM Motor in court.

3. Geely May Have Difficulty Obtaining 640 Million Yuan

There have been many similar infringement cases in the automotive industry before, but most of them have ended inconclusively due to difficulties in evidence collection and rights protection for various reasons.

Regarding this case with WM Motor, Geely officials also told the media, "It was extremely difficult, and the difficulty of evidence collection was beyond imagination."

According to the information in the judgment document, Geely spent over 13 million yuan to win this lawsuit.

Six years, over 13 million yuan, and a significant amount of manpower and resources. Geely's path to defending its rights has indeed been difficult.

Fortunately, Geely won the lawsuit, safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests, and was awarded 640 million yuan in compensation. However, it is worth noting that Geely may have difficulty obtaining this 640 million yuan.

Due to multiple reasons such as low product competitiveness, multiple failed listings, and broken capital chains, WM Motor announced bankruptcy restructuring last October. It is reported that Shen Hui has also fled overseas and has not returned.

According to audit reports, WM Motor has long been insolvent, with total assets of 3.988 billion yuan and liabilities of up to 20.367 billion yuan. Under such circumstances, the possibility of Geely obtaining the high compensation of 640 million yuan is very small.

However, even knowing this, Geely still chose to fight this lawsuit. By making this case of technology theft into an ironclad case, Geely's core purpose is not for compensation but to fight for its reputation and deter potential infringers.

Li Shufu recently stated at the 2024 China Automotive Chongqing Forum that China does not lack automakers today, but what is lacking is an innovative ecological environment and technology companies with original creativity.

Over the years, Geely has adhered to independent innovation and technology-driven development, investing over 200 billion yuan in research and development in the past decade. As of the end of 2023, Geely Group has accumulated over 24,000 valid patents.

We hope there will be more companies like Geely and fewer companies like WM Motor.