Five-Year Prison Sentence for Selling $1.27 Million USD of Counterfeit Armani Watches in Shanghai Trademark Case

Posted on Categories Case, Trademarks

In an announcement from the Shanghai High People’s Court on November 3, 2022, the People’s Court of Chongming District, Shanghai Municipality   sentenced defendant Ding to imprisonment of five years for the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark and imposed a fine of 1.5 million RMB (~$209 thousand USD).  Ding had sold 58,813 counterfeit watches bearing the Emporio Armani trademark having a value of 9,153,683  RMB (~$1.27 million USD).  

King Semi Settles Chinese Criminal Trade Secret Case for 60 Million RMB

Posted on Categories Case, Trade Secrets

On October 27, 2022, Shenyang Xinyuan Microelectronics (doing business as King Semi) announced in a securities filing that it had settled a trade secret case with an unnamed company for 60 million RMB (over $8 million USD) and received 40 million RMB of the settlement. King Semi is a spinout from the Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and specializes in semiconductor fabrication equipment founded in 2002. The company that misappropriated the trade secrets was founded by former …

China’s Supreme People’s Court: Incorrect PCT Applicant Has Good Faith Duty to Actual Rightsholder

Posted on Categories Case, Patents

On October 13, 2022, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of China released an explanation of case # (2022)最高法知民终130号 holding that an incorrect Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applicant has a duty to the true rightsholder including notifying the rightsholder of deadlines for national phase entry. 

China’s Supreme People’s Court Again Affirms Right to Set Global FRAND Rates in Standard Essential Patents in Nokia/OPPO Case

Posted on Categories Case, Patents

In a decision released on September 18, 2022 by 知识产权那点事 (not yet available on the Supreme People’s Court website or China Judgements Online), China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) affirmed the right for Chinese courts to set global FRAND licensing rates for standard essential patents based on a nexus to China. OPPO had sued Nokia in Chongqing asking the People’s Court to set global licensing rates for Nokia’s standard essential patents (SEPs), which it did. On appeal, the SPC affirmed the …