Judgement Summary
Nanjing Court ruled that where the party requesting a PI lost the litigation, the granted PI shall be considered as wrongfully requested and the losing party shall compensate the suffered party for reasonable losses. However, losses resulting from disobeying the PI shall not be supported by the court. Thus, Baite’s and Kangbaite’s claims for compensation were merely partially supported. The appellate court affirmed the first ruling.
Practice Note
On one hand, undoubtedly patent right holders should more seriously weigh both the benefits of requesting a PI and legal risks of losing the litigation in Chinese courts. On the other hand, the suffered party should realize only “reasonable losses,” incurred as a result of the granted PI will get support from the court if the patent infringement allegation fails to stand.
Patrick Ma is a senior associate in MWE China Law Offices based in Shanghai. He is an accomplished practicing lawyer with five years experience working with major law firms and representing renowned clients including Wal-Mart, GM and Caterpillar, among others. He concentrates his practice on: （1）intellectual property licensing including software, patent and know-how；（2）IP exploitation in M&；；A including due diligence；（3） various IP-related agreements draft and review；（4） IP counselling on corporate operation and transaction； （5）IP litigation including customs enforcement ；（6） registrable IP including trademark prosecution, opposition and re-examination；（7） taxation on IP assets；and （8） General corporate and regulatory matters, such as labor compliance, contract draft and review, environmental compliance, etc.
