On June 29, 2023, the People’s Court of Kunshan City rendered a public judgment of first instance on the criminal case of defendants He and Wang’s illegal sale of the “Chicken Leg” (“鸡腿”) cheat game plug-ins for “Game for Peace” (和平精英) and PUBG MOBILE, sentencing both defendants to a fixed-term imprisonment of four years for the crime of copyright infringement and imposing a fine of 20 million RMB, and recovering the illegal proceeds and fruits thereof.
Category: Copyright
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Summaries of 43 Legal Application Issues from 2022 Intellectual Property Cases
On April 22, 2023, China Supreme Peoples Court (SPC) released the Summary of the Annual Report of the Supreme People’s Court on Intellectual Property Cases (2022) (最高人民法院知识产权案件年度报告（2022）摘要). This annual report explains 43 legal application issues from the intellectual property cases concluded by the Supreme People’s Court in 2022 including patent cases, trademark cases, copyright cases, unfair competition cases, new plant variety cases, integrated circuit layout design cases, monopoly cases, technical contract cases, and litigation procedures.
Beijing IP Court Awards Dassault 20 Million RMB in CATIA Copyright Infringement Case
On April 24, 2023, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court announced it awarded Dassault Systemes Co., Ltd. 20 million RMB and an injunction in copyright infringement case involving the CATIA computer aided design (CAD) software. The Court found that the defendant IAT Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. (阿尔特汽车技术股份有限公司) copied and installed 103 copies of the CATIA series of computer software involved in the case without authorization and IAT obstructed the Court’s evidence preservation.
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases the Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases in Chinese Courts in 2022
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.