Mia Qu, Bessie Ye, Nick Wang of King & Wood’s Intellectual Property Group
As 2009 begins and the economic crisis has hit most major markets globally, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (“Supreme Court”) is studying how to adjust judicial policy on intellectual property rights (“IPRs”). The new policies will outline developing trends in the legal protection of IPR in China that may occur this year:
1. Increasing Compensation for Infringement on Intellectual Property Rights
Recently, the Supreme Court has stressed on various occasions that the court shall adopt flexible and practical methods to calculate the damages awarded in cases concerning infringement on IPRs in order to adequately compensate rights owners, negate illegal profits collected by the infringement, and truly raise the costs for infringement; the reasonable expenses of the right owners incurred while enforcing their lawful rights shall be reimbursed. When statutory compensation is applied, the compensation for the expenses incurred by the rights owners while enforcing their lawful rights shall be calculated separately, rather than be included in the statutory compensation. The current applicable maximum amount for statutory compensation in China is RMB 500,000（though the maximum amount has already been raised to RMB 1million in the third revised PRC Patent Law promulgated on December 27, 2008 which will come into effect on October 1, 2009）, which includes the allowance for expenses incurred. Due to the difficulty in producing evidence when seeking compensation and that the statutory compensation is non-substantial, the absence of sufficient and adequate compensation is a common problem faced by right owners. This issue could addressed in 2009.
2. Simplifying and Improving Flexibility of Litigation Procedures
For example, on December 17th of 2008, the Supreme Court promulgated the Circular on Application of the Provisions on Time Limit for Evidence Production under Several Provisions on the Evidence for Civil Actions. Such an interpretation allows for more flexibility on the time limits in evidence production and requires the court to adjudicate cases in a more just and efficient manner. This development is also applicable to all types of IPR litigations.
At the recent National Symposium on the Court Trial of Intellectual Property Rights held at the end of November 2008, the Supreme Court specially held a discussion on how to make it more convenient for plaintiffs (especially foreign plaintiffs) during legal proceedings, and clearly indicated that all the cases which meet the acceptance requirements shall be heard in a timely manner in accordance with the law. Currently, foreign rights owners usually delegate a representative within China to initiate the legal proceedings, and the court has a more complex set of procedures for such an arrangement. Some courts even require the rights owners to sign on the bills of complaints personally, and prohibit the local representative to sign on their behalf. The Supreme Court now, however, has standardized the process, allowing authorized delegates to initiate legal proceedings on behalf of foreign rights owners. Thus, the inconvenience currently faced by foreign rights owners may be minimized in 2009.
3. Taking into Account the Interests of All Parties and Carefully Sustaining Claims for Injunction
It is foreseeable that in 2009, the courts will place a stronger emphasis on the balance between the interest of the rights owners and the interest of the public, and prevent IP right owners from abusing their power. This means that the standards applicable to patent infringement determination, especially to equivalence infringement, may be tightened; in cases where the rights owners have allowed their rights to be infringed and take no action over a lengthy period of time, should they finally do take action and seek an injunction and if the order of injunction could potentially tip the balance between the interest of the parties, or impact economic activity so as to go against the public interest, the court may consider not granting the injunction. For some infringing acts, if public interest may be affected, the court may rule for compensation to be paid rather than grant the injunction. At present, the application for injunction can usually be granted by the court if the claim of infringement may be established by the rights owners.
In summary, it is foreseeable that due to the publication of the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy in China, judicial protection will play a leading role in safeguarding IPRs. Furthermore, China’s intellectual property rights protection policy is undergoing change and adjustment in order to integrate further with the development trends of global IPRs protection.
在2009年即将到来、而全球经济危机正给世界大部分国家造成巨大影响的时刻，中国最高人民法院正在研究调整知识产权的司法政策。这些新的政策导向为我们勾绘了2009年可能出现在中国知识产权司法保护领域的一些新气象：
一、 加大知识产权侵权赔偿力度，贯彻全面赔偿原则
最高人民法院近期数次强调，在知识产权审判中，应运用灵活多样和合理可行的损害赔偿计算方法，使权利人受到的损害获得足够的赔偿，彻底剥夺侵权行为人因侵权而获得的利益，切实提高侵权代价；对于受害人正当合理的维权成本要给予赔偿；在适用法定赔偿时，对于合理的维权成本应另行计赔，不列入法定赔偿额之内。而目前，中国的法定赔偿最高额是五十万元（于2008年12月27日颁布、2009年10月1日生效的第三次修改后的《专利法》已将最高金额调整到人民币一百万元），并且包含了对权利人因维权所发生的费用的补偿。由于损害赔偿的举证难度较大，而法定赔偿的金额较低，不能得到足够的、实质性的赔偿是权利人普遍面临的难题。这一问题可望在2009年得到改善。
二、 简化或放宽诉讼程序
例如，今年12月17日，最高人民法院颁布了关于适用《关于民事诉讼证据的若干规定》中有关举证时限规定的通知，该通知对举证期限等问题做出了更加灵活的规定，有利于人民法院以更加公正高效的方式进行案件的审判。该通知同样适用于各类知识产权诉讼。
最高人民法院在此次全国法院知识产权审判座谈会上特别讨论了如何便利当事人（尤其是外国当事人）诉权的行使，并明确指出符合受理条件的起诉均应依法及时受理。目前，外国权利人通常授权我国境内代理人代为提起诉讼，法院的相关程序性要求比较繁琐。部分法院还要求权利人必须在起诉书上签章，不得由代理人代为签署。此次最高人民法院明确统一，凡经权利人明确授权代理提起诉讼的代理人，均可以权利人名义提起诉讼。因此，该等不便可望在2009年得以免除。
三、 兼顾社会各方利益，审慎适用停止侵权责任形式
可以预计，在2009年，法院在知识产权案件的审理中将更加注重知识产权权利人与社会公共利益的平衡，防止知识产权权利人滥用权利。这体现为，专利侵权的判定标准，尤其对等同侵权的情况，可能会适度从严掌握；权利人长期放任侵权、怠于维权，在其请求停止侵权时，倘若责令停止侵权会在当事人之间造成较大的利益不平衡，或者影响经济活动从而违反公共利益，法院可以审慎地考虑不再责令停止行为；对于一些侵权行为，如果要求其停止侵权可能导致违反公共利益，则可能仅判令侵权人承担损害赔偿，而不必停止侵权。而目前，如果权利人提起的侵权诉讼可能成立，则停止侵权的申请一般能获得法院支持。
综上，可以预见，由于中国《国家知识产权战略纲要》的颁布，司法手段将成为知识产权保护的主导角色。而中国知识产权保护的司法政策正在酝酿着调整和转变，更融于全球知识产权保护的发展趋势。