Due to patent infringement disputes, the enterprise dissatisfied with the administrative agency's decision and sued the Court. This administrative lawsuit was brought to the Supreme People's Court. At the end of last year, the Supreme People's Court concluded that the Wuhan Municipal Intellectual Property Office won the administrative litigation for handling patent infringement disputes. The appeal of the infringing company was rejected. It is the first case in Hubei Province, and also rare in China.
The patent infringement dispute occurred two years ago. In October 2018, a foreign heavy industry limited company discovered at an exhibition site in Wuhan International Expo Center that the "wheel tractor" exhibited by a Shandong Machinery Co., Ltd. infringed its "tractor". After notarizing the on-site exhibits for the design patent right, in November 2018, he filed a patent infringement dispute settlement request with the Wuhan Intellectual Property Office.
Since accepted the case, the Wuhan Municipal Intellectual Property Office formally filed the case in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Patent Administrative Enforcement Measures. It formed a three-person collegiate group to conduct oral hearings and mediation in accordance with the law. After mediation failed, the Wuhan Municipal Intellectual Property Office determined that the alleged infringing product infringed on March 22, 2019, and made a decision to order a Shandong Machinery Co., Ltd. to stop the infringement.
A Shandong Machinery Co., Ltd. refused to accept the decision and filed an administrative lawsuit with the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court in April 2019. The Wuhan Municipal Intermediate People's Court held that the Wuhan Municipal Intellectual Property Office made a decision on handling patent infringement disputes. The facts are clear, the evidence is certain, the applicable law is correct, and the procedures are legal. In July, it ruled that the appellant’s request was rejected. The machinery company refused to accept the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court’s judgment and continued to appeal.
According to the "Decision on Several Issues Concerning Litigation Procedures in Patent and Other Intellectual Property Cases" that came into effect on January 1, 2019, when the parties dissatisfied with the intellectual property administrative cases’ first-instance judgment or ruling and appeals of the cases of a strong expertise in patents, new plant varieties, integrated circuit layout designs, technical secrets, computer software, and monopolies, the Supreme People’s Court hears the cases.
In October 2020, the machinery company appealed to the Supreme People's Court. After the Supreme People's Court opened a hearing, it made a second-instance judgment on December 10 to "dismiss the appeal and uphold the original judgment", which is also the final judgment. The final judgment was a strict test and full affirmation of the law enforcement ability of Wuhan Intellectual Property Office.
When the case was trialed in the first instance by the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court, it was during the fight against Covid-19 epidemic, intellectual property law enforcement officers and Court staff overcame numerous difficulties and handled the case.
In this case, the judgment of the Supreme People's Court has 31 pages, including the design comparison chart attached to the back, up to 40 pages. The dispute focuses on the following aspects:
whether the alleged infringement design was infringed;
whether the comparison method of the Wuhan Intellectual Property Office is correct;
whether the original trial Court has conducted a comprehensive review of the legality of the sued decision;
whether the review exceeds the scope.
In the end, the Supreme People's Court ruled that the facts found in the original judgment were clear and the applicable law was correct and should be maintained.
