CRI听力:China leading in some of the judicial precedents globally on IP protection

Intellectual property lawyers at a leading Chinese firm are suggesting IPR judgments between foreign and Chinese companies in China are now mirroring global practices.

The judgment standards for intellectual property cases tend to vary from country to country in the world. 

In China, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff's side, different from the system in countries like the United States.

Mao Jin, partner at King & Wood Mallesons Law Firm, says Chinese legal practices in IPR cases have become much closer to international norms in recent years. 

"Intellectual property rights protection in China has made great progress in recent years. Chinese courts have distributed the burden of proof based on the better protection of IP rights, instead of only asking for proof from the plaintiff. The judgments in Chinese courts now tend to lower the IP owner's lawsuit costs and bring higher compensation. The regulations and rules have been improved a lot in the IP courts in China, protecting the IP owner's rights."

The number of patent enforcement cases in China has been growing in China every year.

Data from the State Intellectual Property Office shows that in the first half of 2017, there were 15-thousand-400 IPR cases, an increase of 23 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Stats from the Beijing Intellectual Property Court show the victory rate of IP litigations brought by the American companies against Chinese companies increased to more than 70 percent last year. 

This is up from 44 percent in 2015.

Mao Jin says Chinese courts are also using judicial precedents from different court systems around the world. 

"The Chinese IP courts can adopt the way of judgments right after similar cases ruled in countries like the U.S. and Germany. How to properly rule the cases involving standard-essential patents is quite challenging globally. But the Chinese courts such as the Shenzhen IP court sets up a very good example, even leading the global judgment trend. Samsung suing Huawei over the dispute of standard-essential patents was an example. A great amount of such cases are emerging globally concerning disputes among giant communications companies. The courts in the US and Germany are now following such precedents set in Chinese courts."

Mao Jin also says the courts in China are also issuing stronger fines to those found infringing on intellectual property rights.

"Over the past 3 years, infringement compensation has seen sharp increases in judgments from the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. The compensation is doubling up every year, even though the total amount is still lower than the United States. But unlike the US, the courts in Germany, Japan and South Korea have been issuing fines equivalent to what the courts in China have been."

Mao Jin also suggests that some courts in the U.S. are also following the Chinese standard which requires the losing side in an IPR case to cover the legal fees for the winner.