On January 15, 2025, the China National Intellectual Property Administration issued the Invalidation Decision No. 583318, declaring that all patent rights owned by PANASONIC HA AIR CONDITIONING R&D M SDN BHD entitled "Cooling System For An Air Conditioner Control Box And Air Conditioner Incorporated With The Same" were invalid.

After accepting the client's commission, the Hengbo team made sufficient and detailed preparations and ultimately successfully invalidated the patent.

The decision held that: if a claim has distinguishing features compared to the closest prior art, and if the prior art provides an indication of how to apply the distinguishing features to the closest prior art to solve the technical problem actually solved by the claim, then the claim does not have an inventive step.

According to the law, if the patent owner is dissatisfied with the invalidation decision, he or she may file an administrative lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court within three months.