The People’s Court Daily (《人民法院报》), owned by China’s Supreme People’s Court, on January 5 released its annual list of top 10 cases to highlight the most representative disputes adjudicated by people’s courts at different levels in China’s judicial system in 2021. The Jiaxing Zhonghua Chemical Co., Ltd. (嘉兴中华化工公司) and Shanghai Xinchen New Technology Co., Ltd. (上海欣晨新技术有限公司) v. Wanglong Group (王龙集团), Ningbo Wanglong Technology Co., Ltd. (宁波王龙科技股份有限公司), and Xifu Lion King Dragon Spices (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. (喜孚狮王龙香料（宁波）有限公司) case is the only intellectual property case named on the list.

The trade secret misappropriation lawsuit is noteworthy for the record-breaking damages 159 million yuan ($25 million) awarded to plaintiff Zhonghua Chemical, which developed a method for synthesizing vanillin, a food flavoring, by using glyoxylic acid and guaiacol together. Zhonghua Chemical became the world’s largest vanillin manufacturer with a 60% market share with the novel method applied.

The full case summary is available here.