Longbai Sued Former Executives, Seeking 1.3 Billion Yuan! Recent Progress on Titanium Dioxide Project Attached
The leading enterprise in the titanium dioxide industry, Longbai Group, announced that its holding subsidiary Yunnan Metallurgical Xinyi Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. (Yunnan Xinyi) has filed a lawsuit against the infringement of trade secrets related to chloride titanium dioxide technology at the Yunnan Provincial High People's Court.
The defendants are former executives Liu Jianliang, Jiang Shuan, Zhao Zequan, and Hebei Yanshan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. (Hebei Yanshan Steel), claiming a total of 1.311 billion yuan in economic losses and rights protection expenses.
Basic Situation and Dispute Process
Involved technology:Yunnan Xinli has introduced and implemented strict confidentiality measures for the construction process and production technology of a large-scale titanium dioxide chloride production line.
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The technology is a "choke point" core technology in the titanium dioxide field. The chlorination process has become the industry mainstream due to its low carbon emissions, environmental friendliness, and excellent product quality. However, it has high technical barriers and has long been monopolized by overseas entities. In China, only a few companies, such as Lomon Billions Group, possess large-scale production capabilities.
Defendant:Liu Jianliang, Jiang Shuan, and Zhao Zequan were core management personnel of Yunnan Xinli, serving in management or key technical positions from 2007 to 2019.
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Liu Jianliang once served as the legal representative and chairman of Yunnan Xinli, and is the leader of the "Titanium Chloride Technology Innovation Team."
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In the second half of 2019, Jiang Shuan and Zhao Zequan joined an affiliated company of Hebei Yanshan Iron and Steel. They utilized the trade secrets they had mastered to provide services for Hebei Yanshan Iron and Steel's chlorination process titanium dioxide production line, which led to a dispute.
Infringement disputes enter judicial proceedings for more than three years:
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In November 2022, Yunnan Xinli reported a suspected infringement of its technical secrets and a case was filed for investigation.
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In May 2025, the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People's Court in Yunnan Province held a trial for the criminal case of Liu Jianliang and two others suspected of infringing on trade secrets. As of now, the verdict has not yet been announced.
Background:Hebei Yanshan Iron and Steel is advancing the layout of a large-scale chlorination process titanium dioxide industry.
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Investing 12 billion yuan through its wholly-owned subsidiary Hebei Jicheng New Materials Company to construct three projects: lithium carbonate/lithium hydroxide, chloride process titanium dioxide, and carbon materials.
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Claiming to adopt "world-class sub-nanometer chloride process titanium dioxide technology," the goal is to build a million-ton production base.
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On May 30, 2025, Hebei Jicheng New Materials Company filed a "Confirmation of Non-Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights Dispute" lawsuit against Yunnan Xinli. The hearing took place on June 26 at the Intermediate People's Court in Xiong'an New Area, Hebei, with the amount in dispute being 500,000 yuan. The case is currently not concluded, and both parties have entered into a counterclaim situation.
Recent domestic chloride process titanium dioxide projects.
Jinzhou Titanium plans to establish a new chloride process titanium dioxide facility.
CITIC Titanium Industry plans to put into production a 320,000-ton chlorination titanium dioxide project in 2025, which is expected to generate an additional output value of 8 billion yuan.
Pangang Vanadium and Titanium's 60,000-ton titanium chloride white production line reached its designed capacity in March this year.
On August 27th, Tianyuan Co., Ltd.'s subsidiary, Haifeng Heta, plans to invest 185 million yuan to implement a project for the resource utilization of chloride process titanium dioxide tailings.
Bengbu Investment Group Co., Ltd. (Bengtou Group) holds a controlling stake in Bengbu Guotai Nanomaterials Co., Ltd. (Guotai Nanomaterials), whose 80,000-ton chlorination process titanium dioxide production line has recently achieved stable mass production. In 2020, Guotai Nanomaterials invested 1.743 billion yuan to construct a titanium dioxide project using advanced chlorination technology, with a planned total capacity of 300,000 tons.
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