In November 2014, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court was established as the country's first intellectual property court. Since then, it has assumed the important mission of "bridgehead" and "experimental field" for specialized trials of intellectual property rights.
In the past seven years, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has accepted nearly 110,000 cases of various types of intellectual property rights, with an average annual increase of 21%, with more than 90,000 cases concluded, and more than 300 cases per judge per year.
In particular, as the ability and level of professional IP trials have been widely recognized internationally, the number of "mutual litigation" between foreign parties in the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has been increasing year by year, and the Beijing Intellectual Property Court is working hard to create an "international preference" for intellectual property disputes.
Keep the "gate" of drug safety for Chinese people
The reporter learned that in accordance with the Supreme People’s Court’s Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws to the Trial of Civil Cases Involving Drug Marketing Review and Approval (Draft for Comments), the Beijing Intellectual Property Court may have exclusive jurisdiction in the future to amend the Patent Law In the first-instance patent civil cases involving drug marketing review and approval as stipulated in Article 76, the "gate" of drug safety for Chinese people shall be guarded by the law.
At 9:30 am on April 15, 2020, in the press conference room of the court, Song Yushui, the spokesperson of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court and the vice president of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, faced the camera face-to-face and proceeded with the trial of the chemical drug patent case. Online notification.
At a special time, this special press conference has received widespread attention.
Chemical medicine, which is often referred to as "Western medicine", is mostly used to treat major chronic diseases and is the "highlight" of medical patents.
These cases have high technical content and complicated legal application, and involve well-known domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies.
Song Yushui said that traditional Chinese medicine has played a pivotal role in the fight against the epidemic, but its patent protection capabilities need to be strengthened.
As the epidemic spreads around the world, related disputes have appeared frequently, especially revealing that some Chinese medicine developers have insufficient patent application and application capabilities.
According to reports, in response to the problems exposed in such cases, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has implemented policies and summarized different countermeasures.
In some cases of Chinese medicine, combined with the characteristics and laws of Chinese medicine, the court explained in detail each link of patent application, maintenance and protection, so that the process of transforming "private prescriptions" and "secret prescriptions" into medical patents can be organized. Followable.
Create an "international preferred" for intellectual property litigation
In December 2018, in the twenty-sixth court of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, the lawyers who spoke on behalf of the two companies of Huawei and Samsung spoke out loudly; in the court, experts, senior legal affairs and decision-making leaders from both sides sat densely.
The trial judge Rui Songyan introduced that the case involved standard-essential patents. The plaintiff Samsung took Huawei to court on the grounds of patent infringement and requested the court to issue an injunction-ordering the defendant to stop using the patent in question.
Huawei argues that once it has been convicted of infringement and issued an injunction, it will no longer be able to use the patented technology that has been incorporated into the industry standard. This not only means that all its early investment is in vain, but the relevant market is almost closed to it.
The person concerned pointed out that behind the tension is the patent negotiation tug-of-war between the two parties since 2011.
At the time when the stalemate, the two sides ignited litigation wars in many places around the world, and the case is also directly related to the commercial pattern of China, a huge consumer market, and both sides have high hopes.
To this end, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court adjusted its case trial methods, prioritized its work, established a communication platform through pre-trial meetings, and actively guided the parties' in-depth participation of multiple departments to effectively promote negotiations and resolve the deadlock.
After more than 20 consecutive days of high-intensity pre-trial meetings, both parties re-evaluated their respective commercial behaviors, and have a more rational expectation of the subsequent impact of the outcome of the case on the dispute.
Soon, a piece of good news came that Samsung and Huawei reached a global settlement agreement on a package of patent disputes including the patent in this case.
Up to now, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, as the court of first instance for technical civil cases in Beijing, has accepted 54 civil disputes involving standard essential patents, ranking first in the country.
At present, 51 related cases have been concluded, effectively helping a large number of internationally renowned science and technology companies such as Huawei, Samsung, Apple, and Qualcomm to achieve complementary advantages and win-win cooperation on a global scale.
"We always insist on equal protection at home and abroad, and neither grant special treatment beyond the law to foreign parties, nor provide special protection to domestic parties." said Jin Xuejun, party secretary and president of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.
Escorting high-quality innovation drivers
Last year, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court concluded a series of disputes over the copyright infringement of electronic maps between NavInfo and Baidu and Qihoo. The cases involved disputes over the protection mode of navigation electronic maps and market value disputes.
The court found that NavInfo’s national electronic maps constitute graphic (map) works. Taking into account the huge amount of geographic information in the electronic maps and many contrast points, the burden of proof was allocated according to law, and the defendants such as Baidu Company and Qihoo Company were finally determined Infringement of the copyright of NavInfo, the final two cases were awarded a total of 75 million yuan in compensation.
The trial judge Chen Dong said that this case is the highest amount of compensation in a known copyright infringement case in the country, which is of typical significance for increasing the amount of compensation for intellectual property infringement, exploring the market value of intellectual property, and increasing the cost of violations.
The proper handling of technical cases is directly related to the implementation of the national innovation-driven development strategy.
According to statistics, nearly 20% of the cases heard by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court are related to patents, computer software, technical secrets and other technical cases, and involve the new generation of information technology, biotechnology, and biotechnology proposed in the National 14th Five-Year Plan. Some cases of strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, and green environmental protection are directly related to the protection of my country's high-tech cutting-edge technologies.
In addition, in order to serve and ensure the national innovation-driven development, the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and the strategic positioning of Beijing’s capital, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has vigorously promoted professional trials and established specialized trial teams for patents, trademarks, copyrights, and computer software to achieve "professional Trial of professional cases".
At present, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has 1 national adjudication expert, 8 Beijing adjudication expert, and 2 young jurists from the capital. It has built a comprehensive and focused judge team structure, and has formed a multi-level adjudication talent echelon.
(Wu Wenxu)