There are Risks in Participating in the Formation of Standards.

On July 8, 2008, when China’s Supreme Court addressed the question raised by the Liao Ning High People’s Court arising from a patent infringement dispute, it stated, “If a patentee participates in the formulation of the Standard or agrees to incorporate its patented technology into the National Standard, the Industrial Standard and/or the Local Standard, it shall be deemed as the patentee authorizing other parties to exploit the patent for the purpose of conforming to the standards. The exploitation by the said parties may not constitute patent infringement as specified under Article 11 of the Patent Law.” 
 

How can this impact your patent in China? 

 

Xu Jing, Partner at King & Wood’s IP Litigation Practice

 

 

 

The Chinese Supreme Court further clarifies, under such circumstances, that the Patentee is allowed to demand exploitation fees from the users, however, such fees are to be much lower than the licensing fees which could be obtained through normal commercial dealings.

 

It is worth mentioning that neither a patent disclosure system nor a patent exploitation system exists in China during the process of standard formulation. China’s Supreme Court, as the highest judicial authority having the authority to interpret laws and regulations in judicial practices, filled in rules where the law itself was silent. Though its opinion is made upon a specific case tried in Liaoning Court, this posturing will be a guide for inferior courts nation wide and will be binding on similar cases.

 

Patent holders in China would be wise to exercise caution when participating in the formulation of industry standards. Taking part in formulating standards could potentially result in the patentee forfeiting its chance to bring a claim for patent infringement and fees collected for exploitation will likely be significantly lower than those gained through market-based licensing agreements. Given the impact which this opinion could potentially have on protecting and profiting from one’s patent rights, we suggest that patent holders weigh the benefits of participation in industry forums with the risks inherent in the process.
 

 

专利权人参与标准制订将面临风险

2008年7月8日,最高人民法院在答复辽宁省高级人民法院请示的案件时明确批示:“专利权人参与了标准的制定或者经其同意,将专利纳入国家、行业或者地方标准的,视为专利权人许可他人在实施标准的同时实施该专利。他人的有关实施行为不属于专利法第11条规定的侵犯专利权的行为。”最高人民法院还进一步明确,在这种情况下,专利权人可以要求支付技术使用费,但专利权人要求实施人支付的使用费数额应当明显低于正常的许可使用费。

在中国专利法尚未建立有关标准中专利信息的公开披露以及使用制度的情况下,最高人民法院作为中国的最高审判机关以及具有司法解释权的机关,对该问题的上述态度在一定程度上补足了立法空白。该批示尽管是对辽宁省高院作出的个案批复,但批复内容对于类似案件以及对于下级人民法院的审判工作均具有指导意义。

对于最高人民法院作出的上述批复,专利权人应当引起高度关注。对于是否参与标准制定以及是否将自己的专利纳入标准,专利权人应当持格外审慎的态度。专利权人的上述行为很有可能导致其丧失主张专利侵权的机会, 同时专利权人可以取得的使用费也会相应降低。