The recent Apple v. Baili case has generated a wide interest in design patents. This article discusses developments on judicial standards for determining design patent infringement applied in Apple v. Baili, and some implications from this case. Such standards involve how to determine distinctive features, what to be considered to differentiate a functional feature, what…
One of the most controversial issues relating to Standard-Essential Patent (“SEP”) is to determine whether injunctive relief is available to SEP holders. Undoubtedly, in negotiation with a standard implementer, injunction is the most powerful weapon for an SEP holder, and will exert significant influence on the final license terms. Consequently, the court’s attitude towards SEP…
On March 22, 2017, the Beijing IP Court (the “trial court”) issued a decision on a high-profile case Iwncomm v. Sony concerning infringement of a standard essential patent (SEP). This case has drawn extensive attention in China’s IP community because it is the first SEP-based injunction granted by a Chinese court, and it involves quite…
Pharmaceutical polymorph patents are regarded as effective means and important secondary pharmaceutical patents to extend the life cycle of pharmaceutical patent protection. However, the inventiveness evaluation criteria for pharmaceutical polymorph patents have become much stricter in China while the amount of patent application keeps soaring. The clinical research of pharmaceutical polymorphs commenced in 1950s internationally…
1. Background In June 2008, China announced the Outline of National IP Strategy (“IP Strategy”), which set up a roadmap for China to become a country of high level of IP creation, utilization and protection by 2020. As a key part of the IP Strategy, China committed to carry out a number of judicial reforms…
1 Background In the past several years, the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) of China has been working on establishing a precedent system appropriate for China. In 2010, the SPC launched the Guiding Cases System (“GCS”). Under the GCS, the SPC each year selects and publishes certain representative cases from all level of courts as Guiding…
A positive view is spreading on post-filing experimental data in China since the recent official post of the proposed revisions to the Guidelines for Patent Examination (the “Guidelines”) by the State IP Office (the “SIPO”) of China. People tend to think that the window is about to open to post-filing experimental data, just like it…
In an effort to further enhance protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and to promote implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China posted online proposed revisions to Guidelines for Patent Examination to solicit public opinions from 28 October to 27 November 2016. The new guidelines are expected to…
By Jill (Yijun) Ge and Benjamin Bai We discussed when an IP owner might become an IP abuser previously (http://kluwerpatentblog.com/2016/03/08/crossing-the-rubicon-when-does-ip-owner-become-ip-abuser/). For standard essential patent (“SEP”) holders, one lingering question is whether they can still seek and enforce injunctions. Some take the view that the act of seeking injunctive relief is inherently inconsistent with an SEP…
By Benjamin Bai and Jill (Yijun) Ge Consider this hypothetical: a company discovered a new compound and obtained a patent on the compound. Later, this compound was discovered to be ten times harder than diamond. Soon, cutting tools made with this new compound replaced all other types of cutting tools, including diamond tools. Two years…
