On April 22, 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) held a press conference for Intellectual Property Publicity Week, introducing the overall situation of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in courts across the country in 2023. The SPC also released the Status of Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Chinese Courts (2023) (中国法院知识产权司法保护状况(2023年)). Some highlights from the press conference and report follow.

A total of 544,126 IPR cases in various types were newly received in 2023, with 544,112 concluded.

In 2023, punitive damages were applied in 319 cases by courts nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 117%, with a total awarded amount reaching 1.16 billion RMB, increased by 3.5 times from the previous year.

Local courts at various levels with jurisdiction over civil IP cases reached 558 across the country.

The SPC heard the “Melamine” case involving infringement of invention patent and technology secret, ordering the infringer to compensate 218 million yuan according to the law, while a comprehensive settlement was achieved during enforcement that the infringer ultimately paid 658 million RMB for a licensing from the right holder, which set a new record for IP cases in China. The case was selected as one of the “Top Ten Cases in 2023 on Promotion of the Process on the Rule of Law in the New Era”.

The SPC also concluded the case involving infringement of the technical secret of “Rubber Anti-Aging Agent”, ordering a compensation of 202 million RMB in damages, setting a new record for damages in cases involving infringement of technical secret.

The SPC will explore and improve the specialized litigation system for intellectual property rights including accelerating the study and formulation of the legislative proposal for the “Law on Special Procedures for Intellectual Property Litigation.” (知识产权诉讼特别程序法)

The SPC published 8 guiding cases on intellectual property protection, 10 typical cases on anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition, 8 typical cases on film intellectual property protection, and 15 typical cases on judicial protection of intellectual property rights in the seed industry.

The SPC hears foreign-related intellectual property cases fairly and impartially. For example, in the “Siemens” trademark infringement and unfair competition case, the People’s Court fully supported the right holder’s compensation claim of 100 million RMB.

Of first instance civil cases, there were 44,711 received patent cases with an increase of 14.73% year-on-year; 131,429 were trademark cases with an increase of 16.85% year-on-year; 251,687 were copyright cases, a decrease of 1.57% year-on-year; 6,492 were technology contract cases with an increase of 53.19% year-on-year; 10,230 were competition cases, an increase of 8.97% year-on-year; and 17,627 were other types with a decrease of 0.51% year-on-year.

Courts nationwide accepted 7,335 first-instance criminal IP cases and concluded 6,967, with increases of 37.46% and 27.69% respectively over 2022. Specifically, there was 1 criminal case related to patent counterfeiting, 1 case concluded; 6,634 were registered trademark infringement criminal cases, 6,357 were concluded, increases of 33.45% and 24.67% respectively over 2022; 627 were copyright infringement criminal cases , with 543 ones concluded, increases of 106.25% and 79.8% respectively over 2022; 73 other cases with 66 concluded, year-on-year increases of 19.67 and 20% respectively.

Source: CHINA IP Law Update