On April 20, 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases in Chinese Courts in 2022 (2022年中国法院10大知识产权案件). The cases include the first patent linkage case, trademark infringement, unfair competition in search engine optimization, criminal counterfeiting of registered trademarks, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and others. The list of cases along with an explanation of each as provided by the SPC follow.
Category: Case
China’s Ministry of Public Security Announces 10 Typical Cases of Strengthening Protection of Intellectual Property Rights via Criminal Law Enforcement
On April 19, 2023, China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced 10 typical cases of strengthening protection of intellectual property rights via criminal law enforcement and supporting comprehensive innovation (公安部公布加强知识产权刑事保护支持全面创新10起典型案例). The MPS also stated that “in 2022, a total of 27,000 criminal cases of intellectual property infringement and the production and sale of counterfeit and inferior commodities were cracked, effectively curbing the frequent occurrence of such crimes.” The announcement from the MPS follows.
Chinese Live Streamer Sentenced to 1 Year 10 Months Prison Term for Selling Counterfeit Disney Plush Toys
On April 14, 2023, the Jing An Procuratorate in Shanghai, China announced that live streamer Zhu XX with 200,000 fans was sentenced to a prison term of 1 year 10 months and fined 800,000 RMB for the crime of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks belonging to Disney. An additional 5 defendants were sentenced to imprisonment of 1 year to 1 year 8 months and fined, subject to probation.
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases “Summary of Judgments of the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court (2022)”
On March 30, 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court releases the “Summary of Judgments of the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court (2022)” (最高人民法院知识产权法庭裁判要旨摘要（2022)). The Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) selected 61 typical cases from 3,468 cases concluded in 2022, and extracted 75 judgment summaries. The judgment summaries for IP-related cases, as provided by the SPC, follow.