China Supreme People’s Court: Latest IPR Related Cases Data of 2011 in China

The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China released the latest data of IPR cases in 2011

In 2011, the number of first instance civil intellectual property cases accepted and disposed by local courts grew by 38.86% and 39.51% to 59,612 and 58,201 respectively.

Among the cases accepted in 2011, 7,819 were patent cases, up 35.16% year-on-year;

12,991 were trademark cases, up 53.56% year-on-year;

35,185 were copyright cases, up 42.34% year-on-year;

557 were technology contract cases, down 16.87% year-on-year;

1137 were competition cases (18 were monopoly-related), up 0.53% year-on-year;

and 2,193 were other intellectual property cases, up 11.55% year-on-year.

1137 were competition cases (18 were monopoly-related), up 0.53% year-on-year;

and 635 involved Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan parties, up 128.42% year-on-year.

new and concluded reopened cases (zaishen cases) grew by 164.86% and 105.50% to 294 and 224; cases accepted and concluded by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) totalled 305 and 311 (including cases carried over from previous years), among which 255 were reopened cases and 262 were concluded (including cases carried over from previous years).

The close rate of civil intellectual property cases of first instance at the local courts rose from 86.39% in 2010 to 87.61% in 2011;

appeal rate fell from 49.65% in 2010 to 47.02% in 2011;

reopen (zaishen) rate increased from 0.27% in 2010 to 0.51% in 2011;

and remand for retrial (chongshen) rate decreased from 4.57% in 2010 to 3.66% in 2011.

The percentage of civil intellectual property cases of first instance concluded within time limit increased from 97.93% in 2010 to 98.57% in 2011.

The people’s courts were prudent in handling applications for preliminary injunction in intellectual property cases, and 130 applications for preliminary injunction were admitted, and 98.23% were approved;

186 applications for pre-trial preservation of evidence were admitted, and 93.42% were approved, and 20 applications for pre-trial preservation of property were admitted, and 100% were approved.

In 2011, the local courts accepted 2,433 intellectual property-related administrative cases of first instance, 6.06% less than previous year, and closed 2,470 such cases, 3.30% more than previous year.

Of those accepted, 654 were patent cases, up 18.69% year-on-year;

1,767 were trademark cases, down 12.78% year-on-year;

2 were copyright cases, unchanged from the previous year;

10 were other intellectual property cases.

In 2011, SPC accepted 102 intellectual property-related administrative cases and concluded 101.

Of those concluded, 73 cases or 72.28% were dismissed; 20 cases or 19.80% were issued tishen orders (similar to certiorari), 3 cases or 2.97% were ordered to reopen (zaishen); 3 cases or 2.97% were withdrawn; 1 case or 0.99% involved issuance of written instructions to a lower court (fahan); 1 case or 0.99% through other methods.

SPC reviewed 13 tishen cases and concluded 11. Of those concluded, 1 or 9.09% was affirmed; 10 or 90.91% were reversed.

The number of first instance cases involving foreign parties or Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan parties increased substantially to 1,237, representing 50.08% of the concluded intellectual property-related administrative cases of first instance; 986 of the above cases involved foreign parties, 116 Hong Kong parties, 3 Macao parties and 132 Taiwan parties.

There was also a drastic increase in intellectual property-related administrative cases of second instance. The number of cases accepted and concluded by the local courts was 1,333 and 1,266 respectively. Of the concluded cases, 1,134 were affirmed, 67 reversed, 3 remanded for retrial (chongshen), 42 withdrawn, 14 dismissed; in 2 other cases, the original ruling was revoked and a new order issued to docket the case for hearing; 4 other cases were disposed of through other methods.

In 2011, the number of intellectual property-related criminal cases of first instance increased considerably. New filings increased by 42.96% to 5,707. The new filings included 3,134 intellectual property infringement cases (2,417 involved registered trademarks, such as use of counterfeit marks), up 142.19% year-on-year;

774 were intellectual property infringement cases involving the crime of production and sale of sub-standard products, up 29.87% year-on-year; 1,747 were intellectual property infringement cases involving the crime of illegal business operations, down 15.93% year-on-year; 52 were cases of other nature.

Intellectual property-related criminal cases of first instance concluded by the local courts rose 39.62% to 5,504. Persons against whom judgments were effective totalled 10,055, including 7,892 who were given criminal sanctions

In the cases concluded, 2,967 were criminal cases involving infringement of intellectual property and 5,384 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments, up by 136.60% and 173.86% year-on-year;

750 were criminal cases of production and sale of sub-standard products (involving intellectual property infringement) and 1,509 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

1,735 were criminal case of illegal business operation (involving intellectual property infringement) and 3,032 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

52 were criminal case of other nature but also involving intellectual property infringement and 130 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments.

For criminal cases involving intellectual property infringement, the defendants of 1,060 cases were found guilty of counterfeiting registered trademarks and 2,163 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

the defendants of 863 cases were found guilty of selling products bearing counterfeit registered trademarks and 1,507 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

the defendants of 370 cases were found guilty of illegally manufacturing or selling illegally manufactured counterfeit registered trademarks and 691 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

the defendants of 1 case were found guilty of patent counterfeiting and 2 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

the defendants of 594 cases were found guilty of infringing copyrights and 852 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

the defendants of 30 cases were found guilty of selling infringing reproductions and 75 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments;

the defendants of 49 cases were found guilty of infringing upon trade secrets and 94 offenders were sentenced in effective judgments.

Editor: Mr. You Yunting
Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Bridge IP Law Commentary
Partner & Attorney-at-law of Shanghai DeBund Law Offices
Email: Bridge@chinaiplawyer.com, Tel: 8621-5213-4900,
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