Supreme People’s Court Presiding Judge Chen Wenquan Elaborates on 640 Million RMB Trade Secret Case

Posted on Categories Case, Trade Secrets

On March 7, 2025, Judge CHEN Wenquan, the Supreme People’s Court judge that presided over the case that yielded the largest intellectual property damages in China’s history, elaborated on the case.  In decision (2023)最高法知民终1590号 released June 14, 2024, the SPC applied 2X punitive damages on appeal in a dispute between two well-known (and unnamed) domestic automotive companies regarding new energy vehicle chassis technical trade secrets that were misappropriated in a personnel poaching scheme.  The plaintiff is believed to be Geely …

Supreme People’s Court: 82 Million RMB Verdict Against ByteDance for Copyright Infringement and Trade Secret Misappropriation

Posted on Categories Case, Copyright, Trade Secrets

On February 12, 2025, Beijing Meishe Network Technology Co., Ltd.  (北京美摄网络科技有限公司) announced that China’s Supreme People’s Court ruled against ByteDance for copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation awarding Meishe 82.668 million RMB.  Meishe alleged that ByteDance’s Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) infringed the copyright of Meishe’s SDK software. Several other ByteDance products also allegedly infringed.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation Releases 5 Typical Cases of Trade Secret Misappropriation

Posted on Categories Case, Trade Secrets, Unfair Competition

On December 31, 2024, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released 5 Typical Cases of Trade Secret Misappropriation (五起侵犯商业秘密典型案例).  Administrative enforcement via the SAMR provides an additional mechanism to enforce intellectual property rights, although damages are not available.  Strengthening the protection of trade secrets is an important task to optimize the fair competition market environment. The State Administration for Market Regulation has continued to increase its supervision efforts, deployed special anti-unfair competition law enforcement actions for many consecutive years, …

China’s Supreme People’s Court Publishes Typical Cases on Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition

Posted on Categories Case, Trade Secrets, Trademarks

On September 11, 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) published a set of Typical Cases on Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition (反垄断和反不正当竞争典型案例目录). Two of the cases directly involve intellectual property including the “New Energy Vehicle Chassis” trade secret case discussed here in which 640 million RMB was awarded (but is unlikely to be collected) and a Schneider Electric trademark infringement case in which the Jiangsu Provincial High People’s Court awarded Schneider 40 million RMB. China, while not a common law jurisdiction, …