CHARLOTTE, N.C.,– Celgard, LLC (Celgard), a subsidiary of Polypore International, LP (Polypore), filed a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California asking the Court to quickly grant such relief prohibiting the Defendants Shenzhen Senior Technology Material Co. Ltd., and Shenzhen Senior Technology Material Co. Ltd. (U.S.) Research Institute (collectively, Senior), from: (1) use of Celgard’s trade secrets and/or confidential information, (2) infringement of United States Reissued Patent RE47,520 (the ‘520 patent), formerly United States Patent 6,432,586 (the ‘586 patent), and of United States Patent No. 6,692,867 (the ‘867 patent), (3) violations of the California Business and Professions Code, (4) inducement of a breach of contract, (5) intentionally interfering with prospective economic relations, and (6) making, using, offering to sell, or selling in the United States (U.S.), or from importing into the U.S., products that infringe the ‘520 and ‘867 patents and/or that include Celgard’s trade secrets or confidential information.
If the Court grants the requested Motion and issues the temporary and preliminary relief requested by Celgard, Senior will be temporarily and preliminarily enjoined from, at least and importantly, disclosing or using Celgard’s trade secrets and/or confidential information, making, testing, using, promoting, offering to sell, marketing, commercializing, or selling separators or products of any kind that utilize, embody, or were developed, in whole or in part, with the benefit or use of any of Celgard’s trade secrets and/or confidential information, and from both direct and indirect infringement of Celgard’s patents, including being enjoined from importing Senior’s infringing separators into the U.S., and from making, using, selling, or offering for sale Senior’s infringing separators in the U.S., and including being enjoined from inducing or encouraging third parties (their customers) to infringe and violate the order (the enjoined behavior).
Celgard filed suit in September against Senior who sells separators globally that they make in Shenzhen, China. Celgard’s Complaint alleges Senior has infringed Celgard’s U.S. ‘520 and ‘867 Patents on ceramic coated and polypropylene separators. The suit also seeks a permanent injunction preventing Senior from selling the infringing separators and from using Celgard’s trade secrets and confidential information, and seeks compensation for damages. See Release.
In August, Celgard successfully settled a patent infringement lawsuit against Targray International (Targray) for infringing Celgard’s ‘520 and ‘867 Patents. See Release.
In June, Celgard also successfully settled two suits against MTI Corporation (MTI) for selling separators that infringe Celgard’s ‘586 patent and for selling counterfeit separators with the Celgard® registered trademark. See Release.
The successful outcome of the Targray and MTI cases further solidifies the integrity of Celgard’s intellectual property (IP) regarding coated and uncoated separators for lithium-ion batteries. Celgard will continue to prevent the unfair exploitation of its technology and IP to safeguard its assets and customers.
About Celgard and Polypore
Celgard specializes in coated and uncoated dry-process microporous membranes used as separators that are a major component of lithium-ion batteries. Celgard’s battery separator technology is important to the performance of lithium-ion batteries for electric drive vehicles, energy storage systems and other applications.
Celgard, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Polypore International, LP, an Asahi Kasei Company.
Polypore is a global company with facilities in nine countries specializing in microporous membranes used in electric and nonelectric vehicles, energy storage systems and specialty applications. Visit www.celgard.com and www.polypore.com.