Necessary Path and Feasible Path—Seminar on the Optimization of Patent Invalidity Litigation Procedure Pools Wisdom
2019 China IP Forum of Practical Issues
Recently, the ongoing fourth revision of the Patent Law brings patent invalidity litigation procedure and its relevant issues into the spotlight. Under such a circumstance, the 2019 China IP Forum of Practical Issues—Seminar on Difficulties in Patent Jurisdiction was held by China IP on June 23 in Beijing.
The first topic of this forum is the optimization of patent invalidity litigation procedure. In his speech, Zhou Xiang, vice president of the IPR Division of the Supreme People’s Court of China, said that the optimization of patent invalidity litigation procedure is necessary for protecting intellectual property rights, fostering a sound business and innovation environment, developing China into a destination of international intellectual property litigation and enhance China’s international competitiveness; the optimization also serves as an important historical opportunity to establish a national-level appeal mechanism for patent cases.
Necessary path and feasible path— reasons why patent invalidity litigation procedure should be optimized
Cui Ning, justice of the IPR Division of the Supreme People’s Court of China, pointed out that it was both necessary and urgent to optimize patent invalidity litigation procedure through the revision of the Patent Law. He said that for one thing, it was a trend in the world to simplify litigation procedure and make legal systems more attractive. This could also help China boost innovation and create a favorable business environment; for another, the existing patent aid procedure in China tended to be lengthy, complex, and full of unpredictable factors, which required more efforts in legislature to ensure an effective integration of jurisdiction and administration in patent protection.
Zhang Guangliang, professor of Intellectual Property (IP) Academy of Renmin University of China (RUC), said that the existing defendant invalidity defense in patent infringement litigation featured different standards for jurisdiction, high unpredictability and unguaranteed invalidity defense rights for defendants. In terms of ways to optimize patent invalidity system, Zhang suggested that in civil cases, the losing party pay the attorneys’ fees for the winning party, procedures be established to deal with the abuse of patent granting, and people who file a lawsuit in a malicious manner or without thinking too much be held accountable. He believed that the optimization of patent invalidity procedure and relevant systems should always take into consideration efficiency and fairness, international rules and Chinese characteristics, as well as innovation space and the protection of patent owners’ interests.
Li Yang, professor of the School of Law of Sun Yat-sen University, said that patent invalidity defense played an important role in balancing patent granting, but China still needed to do more in this field. Therefore, legislature should actively assume the responsibility of dealing with problems and closing loopholes in existing systems.
July 16, 2019
Source: China IP Magazine
Photo from: China IP Magazine
