Supreme People s Court, Questions Concerning the Application of Law to Pre-litigation Injunctions to Cease Patent Infringement Activities Several Provisions

Promulgated: June 7 2001
Effective: July 1 2001
Application: The Regulations are applied when a patentee or interested party files a petition to halt ongoing patent infringement prior to and during litigation. “Interested party” includes licensees in a patent licensing contract and lawful successors to patent property rights (Article 1)

Main contents: Petitions for pre-litigation injunctions to cease patent infringement should be directed to people's courts with jurisdiction over patent infringement cases (Article 2). The petitioner submits a written petition statement that includes an explanation of how he or she will suffer irreparable damage if the infringing activity is not promptly halted (Article 3). The court's decision is limited to the scope of the petition (Article 5). At the time of petitioning, the petitioner must provide security of an amount deemed sufficient by the court to cover warehousing, loss of sales, staff wages, and other costs that the petitionee will incur in implementing the court's injunction (Article 6). In the event that actual costs to the petitionee exceed the amount of the security, the court can or der further security (Article 7). A petitionee's disagreement with the amount of the security does not constitute sufficient reason to halt an injunction (Article 8). The people's court must issue a written judgment on whether to issue an injunction within 48 hours of receiving a petition and must notify the petitionee within five days; the petitionee must immediately comply with an injunction to halt the specified activity (Article 9). The petitionee can, within ten days, request reconsideration (Article 10). If a future judgment does not uphold the petitioner's claim of patent infringement and the petitioner does not appeal the court's judgment, the petitionee can claim compensation from the petitioner (Article 13).
Related legislation: PRC, Civil Law General Principles, Apr 12 1986; PRC, Patent Law (2^nd Revision), Aug 25 2000, CLP 2000 No.8 p7 & CLP 1992 No.9 p42 and PRC Civil Procedure Law (2nd Revision)