By Song Xinyue and Ge Min, IP Litigation, Beijing

Allocation of burden of proof is an area of great concern in a process patent infringement dispute.  In practice, the accused infringing process is usually strictly controlled by the accused infringer and hard to approach, which poses great challenges for a patentee of a process patent to produce evidence and enforce its legitimate right.  Fortunately, a patentee of a process patent for manufacturing a new product doesn’t have to bother with producing evidence showing the defendant’s infringement, as the Patent Law and the Rules of Evidences in Civil Procedures both set forth that the accused infringer shall furnish proof to show that the process used in the manufacturing of its products is different from the patented process as long as the patentee can prove that the process patent directs to a new product and that the accused infringer have made identical products.  However, a patentee holding a process patent for manufacturing a known (not new) product will not be so lucky.  Continue Reading Invocation of Presumptions and Burden of Proof in Patent Disputes over Manufacturing Processes