Legislation roundup: COVID-19 disputes and IP infringement cases

With respect to cases that shall be governed by foreign law, people's courts shall accurately grasp statutory provisions or case law content similar to force majeure rules in the foreign law in question and correctly apply the same. People's courts may not automatically grasp similar force majeure provisions in foreign law in accordance with the force majeure provisions of the Chinese law.

Further reading

Guiding Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Lawful and Proper Trial of Civil Cases Involving the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic (1)

Guiding Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Lawful and Proper Trial of Civil Cases Involving the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic (2)

Supreme People's Court, Several Provisions on Evidence in Civil Intellectual Property Procedures (Draft for Comments)

最高人民法院关于知识产权民事诉讼证据的若干规定 (征求意见稿)

Where the alleged infringer mounts a defense on the grounds of lawful provenance in accordance with Article 70 of the Patent Law, the second paragraph of Article 64 of the Trademark Law or Article 53 of the Copyright Law, it shall bear the burden of proof for the following facts:

(1) it did not know the alleged infringing product/good had infringed intellectual property rights; and

(2) the alleged infringing product/good has lawful provenance.

Further reading

PRC Patent Law (3rd Revision)

PRC Trademark Law (4th Revision)

PRC Copyright Law (2nd Revision)

Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate, Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of the Law When Handling Criminal Cases Involving the Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights (3) (Draft for Comments)

最高人民法院、最高人民检察院关于办理侵犯知识产权刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释 (三) (征求意见稿)

If the trade secret is made known to the public or is destroyed or lost due to the infringement of the trade secret, the amount of loss may be determined according to the commercial value of the trade secret. The commercial value of the trade secret may be determined by comprehensive consideration of the cost of research and development, proceeds derived from exploiting the trade secret and other such factors.

Further reading

Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of the Law When Handling Criminal Cases Involving the Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights

Opinion on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement