On 20 Apr. 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the top ten intellectual property cases and 50 typical intellectual property cases of Chinese courts in 2022.
The second one among the top ten IP cases is a drug patent linkage dispute. The plaintiff, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is the patentee of “ED-71 Preparation”. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant’s brand-name drug fell within the protection scope of its patent. In the second instance, the SPC upheld the lower court’s decision and dismissed the plaintiff’s claims.
The tenth case among the top ten IP cases concerns the counterfeiting of the Apple Inc’s registered trademarks “AIRPODS” and “AIRPODS PRO”. The infringing party’s counterfeit products and their packages did not show Apple Inc’s registered trademarks, but displayed “Airpods” or “Airpods Pro” in a pop-up window when connected to an iPhone via Bluetooth. Therefore, the court found the infringer guilty of counterfeiting registered trademarks.
Cover Photo by vigor poodo on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team