Xiaomi's three exterior design patents for cars are challenged as invalid, with the opposing party being the manufacturer of Old Man Li vehicles: official on-site oral hearing scheduled for Thursday

Fast Technology, March 24 News: Three core appearance design patents for Xiaomi Auto’s SU7 and YU7 are currently facing invalidation declaration requests from a micro enterprise in Shandong.

The company launching this challenge is Shandong Yanlu New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd. With registered capital of 10 million yuan and only 20 employees, this small enterprise mainly produces low-speed electric three-wheel motorcycles popularly known as “elderly pleasure cars”. Its core product is the Leiléi brand three-wheel vehicle.

The three appearance patents involved in this dispute are Xiaomi Auto’s front bumper, rear bumper, and front headlight design. These components all constitute key visual features of the SU7 and YU7 models. The National Intellectual Property Administration will hold an on-site oral argument on March 26 in the morning.

It is worth noting that the front headlight patent uses a special “back-authorization” layout. The application was submitted in January 2023 and did not receive authorization until March 2025. Its examination period lasts as long as two years, far exceeding the typical examination timelines for appearance patents, and is viewed as a typical “submarine patent” strategy.

Two months after the patent was formally granted, Xiaomi Auto applied for a patent right evaluation report. In the report issued by the National Intellectual Property Administration in May 2025, it has already preliminarily confirmed the validity of that patent, providing Xiaomi Auto with some legal support in responding to this challenge.

Since its establishment, Xiaomi Auto has consistently maintained a relatively solid track record in the patent field. This dispute is its first patent administrative dispute to date. At present, neither party has made any further official response to this matter, and the upcoming oral-argument outcome will directly determine the fate of these three core appearance patents.

As a representative of new automakers, Xiaomi Auto’s exterior design has always had a very high level of market recognizability. This challenge from a traditional low-speed electric vehicle company is not only a legal contest, but also reflects fierce clashes over industrial design ownership between automakers with different positioning.

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Editor: Snowflake