According to SCMP, on March 13th, China Power bank rental company Energy Monster filed its application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to go public on the Nasdaq Exchange. Aiming to be the first power bank rental company to IPO, Energy Monster, however, has since been sued for patent infringement and is facing a compensation claim of RMB 100 million (≈ USD 15.4 million).

Shenzhen Laidian Technology, another power bank rental giant in China, has filed two lawsuits against Energy Monster at the end of last year on the grounds of IP infringement on two occasions claiming RMB 50 million for each infringement, totaling RMB 100 million (USD 15.4 million). On March 11th, 2021, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court accepted the filing

The Chinese power bank rental industry has seen rapid growth in the past 4 years. By the end of 2020, Laidian, Xiaodian, Jiedian and Energy Monster were "The Big Four" major players, accounting for 96% of the market share between them. With fierce competition, patent infringement disputes have been common. Founded in 2014, Laidian is one of the pioneers in the industry and holds some of the most essential patents. The company claims that they had acquired 123 patents by early 2021 and have since won many patent lawsuits.

According to the China Judgements Online, the online court database developed by the China's Supreme People's Court (SPC), in 2018, Laidian sued Jiedian for infringement of a utility model patent. The lawsuit concluded with a judgment from Beijing Intellectual Property Court that Jiedian should immediately cease production of the products and stop using them within 30 days from the effective date of the judgment on May 25th, 2018. Jiedian was also sentenced to pay RMB 1 million in compensation to Laidian for each of the two cases. On November 22nd, 2018, the final judgment for the second instance signed by the Beijing Municipal High People's Court showed that the original judgment for the first instance was upheld for the two patent trials related to Laidian and Jiedian.

In another two patent dispute cases heard by the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court on December 28th, 2018, Jiedian was again ordered to stop manufacturing and using products suspected of infringing the patent rights held by Laidian. Another defendant, AEON Mall, was also ordered to stop using allegedly infringing products. In addition, Jiedian was sentenced to pay compensation of RMB 15 million per case, totaling RMB 30 million.

Patent disputes are common in the power bank rental industry, where an absence of core charging technologies or the capacity to innovate proves a significant challenge. Established in 2017, Energy Monster can be regarded as a relative latecomer and may be involved in intellectual property disputes during its IPO. This may bring a degree of uncertainty to Energy Monster's dream to become the first listed company in the power bank rental industry.