Court Proceeding
We handle lawsuits relating to client’s IPR, including but not limited to a civil lawsuit for claims on IPR infringement, unfair competition, DNS disputes, licensing contract and business reputation violation, the administrative lawsuit relating to disputes raised during IPR granting and confirmation, administrative enforcement, and also the criminal prosecution, which we represent the brand owners that being damaged by counterfeiters and infringers.
Civil proceeding via local courts having jurisdiction becomes a popular way to solve the dispute between the brand owner and the counterpart in China. Although this is a complicated procedure, we are experienced to provide professional services for clients at this area, supporting them with the comprehensive litigation proposal by analyzing the pros and cons before substantial approaches, providing a solid action timeframe and steps helping clients to move forward, answering any questions that clients may have, and more importantly to conduct the necessary risk assessment. According to the current civil practice in China, when a civil lawsuit involving foreign entities, such as the plaintiff is a foreign-owned entity, there would be no specific time limit for judges to conclude the case, while usually, it would take around one year for the first instance judgment. There are two instances for each normal lawsuit, which the second one is the final, and only a very few cases would go to the Supreme People’s Court for a further review.
It’s good to know that since 2015, there is specialized IP Court established in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou for IP lawsuits, and most likely all the patent cases would go the IP court directly, while for trademark infringement and unfair competition cases might go to the local district court as the 1st court, and IP court would be the second court.
Most of the administrative lawsuits relate to Trademark Office of CNIPA for the disputes arising from trademark invalidation decisions and so on, and Beijing IP Court would be the first place to trial these cases.
Being counterfeited seriously, we would support some of our clients to fight against the counterfeiters, by preserving the evidence, establishing knowledge about the counterfeiting operations and networking, working closely with local authorities, such as police office, the customs and so on, and supporting them on any enforcement actions, providing evidence and documents to make sure the case could successfully be transferred to local public prosecutors for further criminal prosecution against the defendants. Criminal liability is a serious damage to the counterfeiters. For years, we are experienced and capable to work closely with local authority smoothly, strategically, and successfully to take down the counterfeiters.
