1. Basic case data statistics

Since its establishment on January 1, 2019, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court has accepted 5,121 cases and concluded 4,220 cases.  Among them, 2,787 cases were approved in 2020, an increase of 1,354 cases over 2019, a year-on-year increase of nearly 95%.

There were 1,948 new civil second-instance cases, and the number of cases received increased by 986, a year-on-year increase of 102%; 670 new administrative cases of second-instance were received, and the number of cases received increased by 429, a year-on-year increase of 178%.

There were 1,742 substantive civil cases of second instance concluded, and the number of closed cases increased by 1156, a year-on-year increase of 197%; 494 second-instance administrative cases were concluded, and the number of closed cases increased by 352, a year-on-year increase of 248%.

2. Statistics on the average number of cases closed by judges and the average trial period of cases

Since the establishment of the Intellectual Property Court, it has effectively shortened the average trial period of second-instance substantive cases of technical intellectual property rights, and improved the quality and efficiency of trials.  In 2020, the average period of appeals from civil and administrative entities in the intellectual property courts is 123 days, which is more than half shorter than the average period of about one year in higher courts in the past.

3. Case type statistics

Among the newly received 1,948 civil second-instance cases, 435 were disputes over invention patent rights, 754 were disputes over utility model patent rights, 163 were patent application and patent ownership disputes, 360 were computer software disputes, and 67 were technical contract disputes.  There were 44 technical secret disputes, 40 disputes over new plant variety rights, 30 monopoly disputes, 5 integrated circuit layout design disputes, and 50 other types of disputes.

Among the newly received 670 administrative second-instance cases, 622 were administrative authorization and confirmation cases, 17 were administrative handling cases, and 31 were other administrative cases. Among the cases of administrative authorization and confirmation, there were 226 administrative disputes on the refusal of invention patent applications, 18 administrative disputes on the refusal of utility model patent applications, 2 administrative disputes on the refusal of design patent applications, and 175 administrative disputes on the invalidation of invention patents. There were 149 administrative disputes about invalidation of utility model patents, and 52 administrative disputes about invalidation of design patents.

4. Judging decision statistics

Among the 1,742 civil second-instance cases concluded, 779 were closed by maintaining the original judgment, 463 were closed by withdrawal, 158 were closed by mediation, and the transfer rate was 36%, and 339 were closed by remand or retrial. The development and reform rate was 19%, and 3 cases were closed by other means.

Of the 494 second-instance administrative cases concluded, 430 were closed by maintaining the original judgment, 22 were closed by withdrawal, with a withdrawal rate of 5%, and 39 cases were closed by remand for retrial or retrial, and the rate of change was 8%. 3 cases were closed by other methods.

5. Statistics of cases involving foreigners, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan

In 2020, courts accepted a total of 376 foreign-related, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-related cases, accounting for 12% of the total number of cases received, a year-on-year increase of 116%.  Among them, there were 228 second-instance civil cases and 148 second-instance administrative cases.

The court concluded 281 foreign-related, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-related cases, accounting for 10% of the total number of cases closed, an increase of 187% over the same period last year.  Among them, there were 185 civil cases of second instance and 96 administrative cases of second instance.

6. The characteristics of the overall case

The court accepted 478 cases involving strategic emerging industries, accounting for 13% of the total number of cases accepted.  Among them, there are 276 cases involving the new-generation information technology industry, 94 cases involving the biomedical industry, 50 cases involving the high-end equipment manufacturing industry, 33 cases involving the energy-saving and environmental protection industry, 21 cases involving the new material industry, and cases involving the new energy industry. 3 cases, including 1 case involving the new energy automobile industry.

As the national unified final adjudication agency for hearing technology-related intellectual property cases, the intellectual property courts will accept more than one-eighth of cases involving strategic emerging industries in 2020.  Among them, in the case of Huawei Inc. v. CONVERSANT WIRELESS LICENSING S.à.r.l,’s standard-essential patent case, the court creatively used the behavior preservation system in the Civil Procedure Law to make the first behavior preservation ruling with the nature of "anti-suit injunction" in the field of intellectual property rights in China, and explored the application of daily fines for the first time.  The measures directly facilitated the parties to reach a global "package" settlement agreement, effectively safeguarding China's national interests, judicial sovereignty, and the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises.

At the same time, the Intellectual Property Court also severely cracked down on malicious infringements by applying punitive damages.  In the case of punitive damages for infringement of "Kabo" technical secrets, the judgment applied the statutory maximum multiple of punitive damages to five times the maximum, and the award amount was as high as more than 30 million CNY, which was the first punitive damages judgment made by the Supreme People's Court; In the case of high compensation for infringement of "vanillin" technical secrets, each infringer was sentenced to jointly compensate the technical secret right holders of 159 million CNY, which is the highest infringement of trade secrets case in which the effective judgment of a court in China has been awarded.  "In the future, we will further increase our efforts to compensate for intellectual property damages, and there will be more and more cases of high-value awards." Chen Zhonglin said.

From Xinhuanet

February 26th, 2021