Interim protection of patents for invention

Article 13 of China’s Patent Law states that “after the application for an invention patent is published, the applicant may require the unit or individual that exploits the said patent to pay an appropriate amount of royalties”. This provision, in principle, establishes the interim protection system under the Patent Law of China. However, in legal practice, the rightful owners often face issues that the law does not expressly specify when they apply for the interim protection of patents for inventions.

In this article, the author discusses some legal issues involved in the interim protection of patents for inventions, based on a patent infringement litigation case he represented.

Company A found that tens of fabric machines Company C used were suspected of infringing the former’s patents for invention. The investigation found that Company B produced and sold those machines to Company C, and the firm was still committed to selling the said products on its official website. Company A sued Company B and Company C for patent infringements and asked them to stop such infringement immediately and compensate it for economic losses. Company B provided several sales contracts and claimed that, as the sales and delivery times of the said machines were earlier than the issuance date of the patent, it could not be held liable for patent infringement.

Chen Jian is a patent attorney at Sanyou Intellectual Property Agency and director of Beijing Wan Rui Law Firm. Geng Yunfeng is a patent attorney at Sanyou and associate at Wan Rui