On 22 Apr. 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Top 10 Intellectual Property (IP) Cases and 50 Typical IP Cases heard by Chinese courts in 2023. On the same day, the SPC also published the “Intellectual Property Protection by Chinese Courts in 2023” in both Chinese and English.
The selected cases cover various fields including innovation of core technologies in key fields, digital economy, and seed industry, showing the determination of Chinese courts to protect IP rights.
Take one of the Top 10 Cases – the “Siemens” trademark infringement and unfair competition case – as an example. The defendant (an electrical appliance company based in Ningbo), knowing the reputation and popularity of the trademark “SIEMENS”, deliberately labeled its washing machine products with “Shanghai Siemens Electric Appliance Co., LTD”, which caused confusion and misidentification on the part of consumers and constituted trademark infringement. The defendant’s use of the Siemens logo in product packaging and advertising also constituted unfair competition and should be liable for damages.
As for the amount of compensation, since the defendant refused to provide the financial materials related to the infringement, which constituted an obstruction of evidence, the court of first instance calculated the sales of the allegedly infringing products as 1/15 of the defendant’s total annual sales of CNY 1.5 billion by referring to the data in the media reports and according to the relevant facts of the case. The SPC upheld the verdict in the second trial.
In this case, the system of obstruction of evidence is strictly applied. Infringers who deliberately fail to provide evidence and obstruct the court from determining the facts of the case will be dealt with unfavorably in accordance with the law.
Photo by Emmanuel Appiah on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
