The General Office of the Supreme People's Court ("SPC") has recently distributed the Circular on Issuing Ten Major Intellectual Property Cases and 50 Typical Intellectual Property Cases Handled by Chinese Courts in 2017 (the "Circular").
According to the Circular, ten major intellectual property (IP) cases include "Guangdong Jiaduobao Beverage and Food Co., Ltd. v. Guangzhou Wanglaoji Health Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation (two cases involving the disputed use of unique package styles of well-known products without approval)" and "Xixia Longcheng Special Materials Co., Ltd. v. Intellectual Property Office of Yulin and Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group Shenmu Tianyuan Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (a case involving the administrative response to a dispute over patent infringements)", and 50 representative IP cases include "Tan Xining v. Zhenjiang New Area Hengda Silica Gel Co,. Ltd. (a case involving a dispute over infringements upon rights to utility model and design patents)" and "Nidec (Dongguan) Corporation v. LG lnnotek Co., Ltd. and Beijing Zhongnan Shuanglv Science and Technology Co., Ltd. (a case involving disputes over fees to use patents of invention during temporary protection period and infringements upon rights to patents of invention)". Furthermore, the Circular gives an overview of each of these ten major IP cases, illustrating case facts and typical implications of each case.