ANNUAL REPORT ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CASES OF THE SUPREME PEOPLE'S COURT （2010）

Preface

In 2010，the Supreme People's Court（SPC）continuously upheld dynamic justice during the trial of intellectual property（IP）cases，persisted in serving the primary work of law enforcement and case handling，concentrated on trial priorities，employed innovative trial methods，enhanced judicial supervision and guidance，protected the consistency of the application of IP laws，reinforced litigation mediation，realized the resolution of all disputes upon the close of a case，intensified protection，safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of rights holders and fulfilled its IP trial duties.As a result，judicial protection was further established as a leading force in protecting IP rights，and civil litigation has become an increasingly important means of protecting IP，thus eventually providing effective judicial protection for fast and healthy social and economic development.

With a substantial increase in IP cases accepted and heard by all courts nationwide，the SPC accordingly saw a considerable increase in the admission of IP cases.In 2010，the IP Division of the SPC（IP Division）admitted a total of 313 cases，representing an increase of 5%YoY.Classifying those 313 cases by the types of rights involved therein，there were 112 involving patents and other technologies，68 involving trademarks，45 copyright cases，seven trade secrets cases，25 involving other unfair competition，40 involving IP contracts and 16 other cases（most relating to the determination of jurisdiction over IP cases）.There were 50 cases carried over from 2009 and 363 various cases in trial in 2010.The SPC concluded 317 IP-related cases throughout the year，including 7 cases in the second instance，263 cases applying for retrial，20 cases to be reviewed and 27 cases requesting for instruction.Of those concluded cases applying for retrial，164 cases were rejected，27 cases were ruled for trial，37 cases were instructed or ruled to be retried，19 were withdrawn（including cases withdrawn upon settlement），5（cases for retrial of certain IP administrative applications）were transferred to the court of first instance for review and handling，2 were settled and 9 were handled in other ways.The SPC also successfully mediated and facilitated the withdrawal of 24 difficult cases，some of which had significant effect such as the trademark infringement and unfair competition case of Shanghai Johnson&Johnson Pharmaceuticals，Ltd.v.Xi'an Qiangsheng Pharmaceutical Co.，Ltd.，the trademark infringement case of The Beijing News v.Zhejiang Online Network Media Co.，Ltd.，and the patent rights case of Bayer Crop Science v.Anhui Huaxing Chemical Co.，Ltd..

In 2010，IP cases exhibited the following features：there was a growing percentage of complex and difficult cases in which the legal provisions were too general and the courts had to define the boundaries of the law，or cases in which the outcome of the judgment affected the parties'interests significantly，especially cases involving patents，technical secrets and trademarks contending for the market.There was a growing increase in the number of cases proving difficult in the determination of specialized technical facts，especially cases relating to biology，the chemical industry，pharmacy and high technology.In addition，there was a notable increase in associated cases ranging from jurisdiction to substantive issues，from infringement to rights determination，from criminal sanctions to claiming for civil compensation，from local People's courts to the SPC，in which the parties involved both exhausted all defense means to safeguard their respective rights and interests，reflecting fierce competition between market entities and presenting a greater challenge for the trial and mediation of IP cases.The development of network technology facilitates the dissemination of IP products，innovates in the business operation mode and influences the distribution of the original interests of the concerned industries，thus triggering more and more new-type IP disputes and unfair competition disputes.The rules for the jurisdiction of foreign-related cases have attracted high attention from the international community.

The Annual Report，an important judicial document released by the SPC，expatiates on standards and methods for the jurisdiction and judicial policy of significant，complex，difficult and new-type cases in the IP and competition fields.The release of the Annual Report attracts the extensive attention of society and is considered of high importance among relevant communities.On the basis of summing up the experience of publishing the Annual Report over past years and adjusting its writing style，the SPC selected 43 issues with general guiding significance involved in 36 typical IP cases from among those cases with final conclusive verdicts this year in order to prepare and release the Annual Report.It should be noted that although some casesreflectrelevantlegalissuesorincludeinstructivemethodsfor determining jurisdiction，particularly IP cases to be retried by the high people's courts under the instruction of the SPC，or cases that were withdrawn by the parties concerned therein under the presiding of the SPC，the SPC did not make final conclusive remarks on those cases.For this reason，they were not included in the Annual Report.