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 …

China’s IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court Releases Annual Report for 2021

Posted on Categories Case, Copyright, Design Patent, Patents, Trade Secrets

On February 28, 2022, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of China released its Annual Report for 2021. The report discloses statistics about Tribunal including average length of case, number of cases per judge, total number of cases heard, etc. The report also references accomplishments of the Tribunal.

China’s Supreme People’s Court: New Evidence Can be Entered in Patent Administrative Litigation for Invalidation

Posted on Categories Case, Patents

In case no. (2021)最高法知行终93号 recently highlighted by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China in their WeChat account, the SPC held that in administrative litigation against the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) for a patent invalidation decision the lower court can consider new evidence introduced by the patentee. However, petitioners seeking invalidation generally cannot submit new evidence during litigation.