The Reply of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in Internet Intellectual Property Infringement Disputes was promulgated in 2020 and entered into force on 14 Sept. 2020.

There are 6 articles in total, which aim to provide courts nationwide with a unified law application standard in hearing Internet intellectual property infringement cases.

The key points are as follows:

1.When the intellectual property right holder claims that his/her rights have been infringed and applies to the court for preservation measures, he/she may request the court to rule that the network service provider or the e-commerce platform operator (collectively referred to as “the platform”) should take measures to delete, block and disconnect links.

2.Infringement statement: if the intellectual property right holder believes that there is an infringement within the platform, he/she may send a notice to the platform. The platform shall timely forward the notice of the right holder to relevant network users or business operators within the platform (collectively referred to as “the platform user”), and shall take necessary measures. If the platform fails to take necessary measures, causing further losses to the right holder, it shall bear joint and several liability with the platform user for such further losses.

3.Non-infringement statement: if the platform user believes that it commits no infringement, it may request the platform to forward the non-infringement statement to the intellectual property right holder. If, within a reasonable period of time after receiving the non-infringement statement, the right holder fails to indicate that he/she has made a complaint or filed a lawsuit, then the platform shall immediately terminate its measures against the platform user.

4.If the platform user submits the non-infringement statement maliciously, which leads to the termination of necessary measures by the e-commerce platform operator and causes damages to the intellectual property right holder, the right holder can request the platform user to bear punitive damages.