[Case No.] (2020) Supreme People’s Court Zhi Min Zhong No. 357, 376
[Basic case] Yuandesheng Company is the patentee of the utility model patent named "an integrated selfie device", and it filed a batch of patent protection lawsuit against manufacturers and sellers in China.
In the case of Yuandesheng Company suing Pinchuang Company, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court determined that Pinchuang Company was a manufacturer of infringing products, and it continued to manufacture and sell infringing products despite the fact that its manufacturing and sales activities constituted infringement in existing cases.
Considering the nature of the source of infringement of the manufacturing act and the circumstances of Pinchuang Company’s intentional infringement and repeated infringement, it was judged to stop the infringement and compensate Yuandesheng Company 1 million yuan.
Pinchuang refused to accept it and appealed to the Supreme People's Court. The Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment. In the case of Yuandesheng Company v. Chenxi Communication Department, Yinchuan Intermediate People's Court determined that Chenxi Communication Department’s act of selling infringing products constituted an infringement of the patent right involved.
Considering that Yuandesheng did not submit evidence of the amount of infringement damages, and the accused infringing products have low prices and low profits, the business scale of Chenxi Communications Department as an individual business owner is small, which is a situation where there is evidence to prove that the infringement losses are below the lower limit of the legal compensation amount. Therefore, it is determined that Chenxi Communication Department shall compensate Yuandesheng Company for economic losses of 2,000 yuan as appropriate. Yuandesheng Company refused to accept it and appealed to the Supreme People's Court. The Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
[Typical Significance] The Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court has actively promoted the traceability of rights protection and the governance of the source of litigation for mass rights protection cases such as "selfie sticks" and "lighters". For manufacturers as the source of infringement, intensify penalties for infringement, and encourage patent holders to directly trace the source of the infringing product manufacturing process; for retailers and users of alleged infringing products, seek truth from facts and determine their legal liabilities by law, and have evidence to prove if the damage of infringement is higher than the upper limit of statutory compensation or lower than the lower limit of statutory compensation, the amount of compensation may be determined above or below the upper limit.
