French electrical firm pays $23m for IPR violation

HANGZHOU: French electrical company Schneider has agreed to pay 157.5 million yuan ($23 million) to China's Chint Group as a settlement to end a three-year patent lawsuit, a court in Zhejiang province said yesterday.

Tianjin-based Schneider Electric Low Voltage Co Ltd, in which Schneider holds 75 percent, will pay the money within 15 days to Zhejiang-based Chint Group for infringing the latter's patent on electrical apparatus technology, according to the agreement reached at the provincial court.

The two rivals, which had been warring with each other over patent infringement since 1999, also reached a global compromise, but details were not released.