The Supreme People's Court ("SPC") recently issued the Official Reply on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law to Disputes over Network-related Intellectual Property Infringement (the "Official Reply"), for implementation as of September 14, 2020, and the Guiding Opinions on the Trial of Intellectual Property Civil Cases Involving E-commerce Platforms (the "Opinions").

The Official Reply contains provisions in six aspects regarding cases involving network-related intellectual property infringement, including the conditions for application of preservation by the intellectual property right holder, the conditions for network service providers and e-commerce platform operators to undertake the joint liability, and the conditions for applying punitive damages for malicious submission of non-infringement declarations. The Opinions consist of 11 articles, covering basic principles, general provisions, intellectual property protection rules and governance measures for e-commerce platforms, and the legal responsibilities of e-commerce platform operators. Among others, on the basis of summarizing trial experience, the Opinions strengthen the guidance function of judicial policies, specify the identification of the self-operated business of the platform and whether a notifier has acted in bad faith, focus on guiding industry self-discipline and promoting social governance, and make requirements for the content of notices and declarations.

(Source: Supreme People’s Court)