The Supreme Court of China Promulgated Judicial Interpretation Aiming to Improve Patent Protection

February 25, 2010

On December 28, 2009, the Supreme People’s Court of China promulgated Interpretation on Issues Concerning Application of Law in the Trial of Patent Infringement Dispute Cases. The Judicial Interpretation, comprising a total of 20 Articles, aims to protect legal rights and interests of interested parties and encourage independent innovation and technology development by properly handling patent right infringement dispute cases, within the meaning of original intention of legislation and considering the specific situation of China. The Judicial Interpretation came into force as of the date of January 01, 2010.

The Judicial Interpretation involves main issues concerning the application of law in the current trial practice of patent infringement cases, including: the determination of scope of protection of a patent for invention or utility model, principles for judgment of infringement of a patent for invention or utility model as well as design, the application of prior art defense and prior use right defense, the acceptance of a lawsuit for non-infringement declaration, and so on.