Recent years have witnessed a steady increase in intellectual property (IP) litigations in China. According to the RPC Supreme People’s Court, in 2016, first instances of IP civil cases increased by about 24.8% nationwide. Statistics show that copyright cases, trademark cases and patent cases respectively account for 63.7%, 19.9% and 9.1% of the IP civil cases received by the courts in 2016, while IP disputes over technology contracts and unfair competition account for smaller percentages.
HELEN CHENG
中伦律师事务所合伙人
Partner
Zhong Lun Law Firm
Furthermore, according to the head of the Beijing IP Court, Su Chi, the Beijing IP Court received 9,191 cases in 2015, 10,600 in 2016, and 12,000 in the first eight months of 2017, representing an explosive growth. The reason behind this phenomenon is that right holders are more active in seeking judicial protection in light of the enhanced level of infringement crackdown and increasing amount of damages awards. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that IP litigations will continue to increase in China.
With the continuing technology development in China, innovation-oriented industries such as telecommunication and micro-electronics, internet service and life sciences gradually stand out as key players in the Chinese market. In addition, frequent IP litigations in these industries are also making a remarkable difference in IP legislation and the judicial practice in China. IP litigations in these industries vary from patent disputes, which commonly arise among high-tech companies, to software copyright disputes and unfair competition disputes. Leading domestic companies and multinational enterprises in these industries have traditionally been attaching great importance to their IP portfolios and litigation strategies, while some emerging companies can be pushed to the brink of collapse by a single IP litigation.
You must be a
subscribersubscribersubscribersubscriber
to read this content, please
subscribesubscribesubscribesubscribe
today.
For group subscribers, please click here to access.
Interested in group subscription? Please contact us.
你需要登录去解锁本文内容。欢迎注册账号。如果想阅读月刊所有文章，欢迎成为我们的订阅会员成为我们的订阅会员。
Helen Cheng is a partner at Zhong Lun Law Firm in Shanghai. She can be contacted on +86 21 6061 3058 or by email at helencheng@zhonglun.com
Zhang Shuman is an associate at Zhong Lun Law Firm in Shanghai. She can be contacted on +86 21 6061 3154 or by email at zhangshuman@zhonglun.com
