Protecting innovation in an innovative way

Agents ad litem engaged in a heated debate in a case at the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court on April 23.

The trial was a dispute over a patent right invalidation application between appellants, China's search engine giants Baidu and Sogou, and respondent the Patent Reexamination Board of the CNIPA.

It was the first open trial of the Intellectual Property Court's Intellectual Property Rights Publicity Week from April 23 to 25.

During the week, 11 intellectual property (IP) cases were opened to the public to raise people's awareness of innovation protection.

Eleven open trials to demonstrate judicial efforts in IP protection

Judicial protection of IP has been highly valued since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012. The establishment of the SPC's Intellectual Property Court has unfolded a new chapter in China's IP trials.

The court was launched on Jan 1, 2019 and on March 27 the first case was tried and concluded.

The IP Court has been adhering to the principle of "Protecting innovation in an innovative way" and the open trials in the publicity week showed the practice of the principle and demonstrated the court's judicial efforts in IP protection.

Among the 11 cases, two were about disputes over infringement of invention patents, four were administrative disputes over invalid patents for invention, and two were administrative disputes over reexamination of rejection of invention patent applications. The others were about infringement of a new plant variety right, a computer software development contract, and confirmation of non-infringement of the patent.

These cases involved various high-tech fields such as medical devices, network data fetching and optical technology.

Intelligent trial system to enhance fluency and efficiency  

Intelligent devices were used in court. For example, artificial reality technology showed tiny devices to the audience and judges, which made the court investigation clearer and quicker.

With regard to the patent litigation for invention and utility models, the interpretation of the claims and the comparison of the technical schemes were the focus of the disputes between the parties and the difficulties at trial.

Due to the limitation of text and one-dimensional patterns, judges, parties, and representatives had to spend a long time interpreting the complex technical scheme only by written materials.

On the other hand, augmented reality(AR) and remote zoom technology were used in the trials to solve problems of exhibit display and remote investigation of large exhibits.

In addition, the court established a mechanism for electronic materials delivery and electronic service of judgment documents, and launched part of the proceedings online.

During the trial of the administrative dispute over reexamination of rejection of an invention patent application between the appellant Dalian Jiuding Special Construction Engineering Co Ltd and the respondent the Patent Reexamination Board of CNIPA, a video demonstration of the technology was applied and the collegiate bench also used electronic service to exchange evidence, which facilitated matters and improved trial efficiency.

Giving full play to the expertise of technical investigators

Patent cases are closely related to science and technology; therefore the key to them is to identify the technical facts involved.

To help judges better understand the disputed points, the court gave full play to the role of technical investigators to effectively ascertain technical facts which improved trial quality and efficiency.

For instance, during the trial over infringement of patent of invention between the appellant Casio Computer Co Ltd and the respondents Shenzhen Appotronics Co Ltd and YingYinHui (Beijing) Technology Development Co Ltd, technical investigators were invited to the court to give evidence on complex patents, optical technology and mechanical technology.

The introduction of technical investigators to assist in ascertaining facts in the course of trials makes their expertise available in support of trial objectivity.

The SPC's Intellectual Court will continue to insist on "Protecting innovation in an innovative way" and keep striding toward the goals of boosting technological innovation, testing judicial reform, leading patent trials, and being the preferred site for international litigation.