China Releases Typical Cases of Judicial Protection of Personality Rights

Posted on Categories Case, Right of Publicity

On April 11, 2022, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Typical civil cases of judicial protection of personality rights after the promulgation of the Civil Code (民法典颁布后人格权司法保护典型民事案例). Although China is not a common law jurisdiction, the SPC often releases typical or guiding cases to assist trial courts in rendering decisions. The typical cases list 9, of which 3 may be of interest to foreign IP practitioners. Breach of personality rights, like unfair competition, can be a useful cause of …

China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Releases Second Batch of Guiding Cases of Administrative Enforcement

Posted on Categories Case, Design Patent, Patents, Trademarks

On March 31, 2022, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Second Batch of Guiding Cases for Administrative Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (第二批知识产权行政执法指导案例).  Administrative enforcement provides for a second avenue for enforcement of intellectual property rights in China in addition to civil litigation.  The Guiding Cases include 3 cases covering patent infringement, trademark infringement and design patent infringement.

China’s Supreme People’s Court: Patent Infringement Settlements Can Violate the Anti-Monopoly Law

Posted on Categories Case, Patents

In case (2021)最高法知民终1298号 recently highlighted by the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC), the SPC ruled that a settlement agreement to a patent infringement lawsuit constituted a horizontal monopoly agreement as the scope the agreement was not substantially related to the scope of protection of the patent in question.

3-Year Prison Sentence Affirmed for 3M Mask Counterfeiter in Shanghai’s Third Intermediate People’s Court

Posted on Categories Case, Trademarks

On March 25, 2022, the Shanghai Third Intermediate People’s Court announced the affirmance of an earlier ruling sentencing defendant Wu XX to 3-years imprisonment and a 100,000 RMB fine (~$15 thousand USD) for counterfeiting a registered trademark of 3M on masks. In a larger case last year, the same court upheld a sentence of 4.5-years imprisonment for counterfeiting registered trademarks for 3M on masks. The number of seized counterfeit 3M registered trademark masks in the instant case were about 1/10 …