On April 22, 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) held a press conference for Intellectual Property Publicity Week, introducing the overall situation of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in courts across the country in 2023. The SPC also released the Status of Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Chinese Courts (2023) (中国法院知识产权司法保护状况(2023年)). Some highlights from the press conference and report follow.
Category: Case
France’s Arkema S.A. Sues Shanghai Huayi Group Co., Ltd. for 430 Million RMB Patent Infringement
Per a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on April 2, 2024, France’s Arkema S.A. sued two subsidiaries of Shanghai Huayi Group Co., Ltd. for patent infringement requesting 430 million RMB and an injunction. Arkema filed the patent litigation at the Shanghai Higher People’s Court alleging the subsidiaries infringed Chinese patents 200780034079.8 and 201210384253.4 related to processes for producing acrylic acid.
3.5-Year Prison Sentence for Counterfeiting Maotai, the National Drink of China
On April 8, 2024 the Shanghai Hongkou District People’s Court announced the sentencing of three defendants for the crime of of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks, specifically, Maotai, a brand of baijiu, the national liquor of China. As of January 2022, the police had seized more than 200 bottles of the counterfeit Maotai with a total value of over 500,000 RMB at two stores.
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Summary of IP Judgements for 2023
On February 23, 2024 China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Supreme People’s Court Summary of Intellectual Property Court Judgments (2023) (最高人民法院知识产权法庭裁判要旨摘要(2023)). Per the SPC, the summary was formed “to highlight the judicial concepts, trial ideas, and adjudicative methods of the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court in technical intellectual property rights and monopoly cases.” The Tribunal selected 96 cases from the 4,562 cases concluded in 2023, and summarized 104 key points as follows.