Recently, the Supreme People’s Court published its 2018 Annual Report on Intellectual Property Cases. The Annual Report selected 28 typical cases from the intellectual property and competition cases concluded in 2018, and summarized 37 issues therefrom concerning the application of law, which may serve as guidance for future cases. These cases reflect the Supreme People’s Court’s way of thinking and adjudication in trying new, difficult and complicated cases in the fields of intellectual property and competition law.
A patent infringement case that W&B’s Partner Jianguo Huang and his team represented for the client is selected into the section concerning patent-related civil cases of the Annual Report. The Supreme People’s Court comments on the guiding roles played by this case as follows:
(1) Re: the standard for identifying joint infringement
In the retrial case involving a dispute over infringement of an invention patent between the petitioner SMC Corporation and the Respondents Yueqing Zhongqi Pneumatic Technology Co., Ltd. and Tiancai Ni (hereinafter the “electromagnetic valve” patent infringement case) [(2018) SPC Civil Retrial No.199], the Supreme People’s Court points out that a joint infringement must meet the following requirements: (i) the infringing party must include two or more persons; (ii) said persons must have a joint intention; (iii) objectively, said persons’ must utilize, cooperate with or support each other; and (iv) the damages caused by said persons must be within the scope of their joint intention.
(2) Re: identification of contributory infringement under the Patent Law
In the said “electromagnetic valve” patent infringement case, the Supreme People’s Court points out that the term “contributory infringement” prescribed under the Patent Law does not broadly refer to assistance in any form; instead, it refers to: without authorization by the patentee, the provision of articles that are specifically used for infringement to another party for manufacturing and operation purposes, so that the other party may commit infringement of the patent right.
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