Former Employee Founds Competing Company, Pinming Technology Alleges Software Infringement and Seeks RMB 12.22 Million in Damages

On May 16, 2026, Pinming Technology Co., Ltd., a well-known digital construction technology and product provider in China, issued an announcement regarding a lawsuit filed by the company, drawing widespread attention to intellectual property disputes arising from entrepreneurial activities of former employees.

According to the announcement released by Pinming Technology and related media reports, the cause of this lawsuit can be traced back to the departure of a core R&D employee who later founded a competing business. The key individual in this case, Mr. Huang, had long been employed at Pinming Technology, with his primary responsibility being the development of the company’s flagship product, the “Pinming Engineering Cost Estimation Software.”

In January 2025, Mr. Huang left the company and founded Yunyi Fengcheng (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd., serving as its legal representative and largest single shareholder. Subsequently, the company launched a product named “Fengcheng Digital Cost Estimation Software V1.0,” which directly competes with Pinming Technology’s core product in terms of functionality and market positioning.

In its announcement, Pinming Technology stated that the company began developing the “Pinming Engineering Cost Estimation Software” as early as January 1, 2010, and completed development in 2012. After years of updates and iterations, the latest version of the software is “Pinming Engineering Cost Estimation Software” (Version 7.0). Pinming Technology lawfully holds the complete copyrights to the software, including the right of authorship, reproduction right, modification right, and right of communication through information network. The company officially obtained the computer software copyright registration certificate for the software on January 27, 2022, confirming that the ownership rights are clear, lawful, and valid.

Pinming Technology asserts that, upon comparison, the “Fengcheng Digital Cost Estimation Software V1.0” sold by Yunyi Fengcheng exhibits a high degree of consistency with Pinming Technology’s “Pinming Shengces V7.0” in terms of unique identifiers, clearly constituting copyright infringement.

In response to the alleged infringement, Pinming Technology has filed a lawsuit concerning infringement of computer software copyright with the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang Province. Its core claims include:

An order requiring the defendants, Yunyi Fengcheng and Mr. Huang, to immediately cease the alleged infringement of the plaintiff’s computer software copyright, and to publicly apologize to the plaintiff and eliminate the adverse effects in national media and on the defendants’ official website.

An order requiring the defendants to jointly compensate the plaintiff for economic losses in the amount of RMB 12 million, and to bear the plaintiff’s reasonable expenses of RMB 200,000 for enforcing its rights.

As of now, the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang Province has formally accepted and docketed the case. China Intellectual Property Lawyer Net will continue to monitor further developments.