Every year in the spring The Supreme People’s Court of PRC announces its “Top 10 Intellectual Property (IP) cases” and “50 typical IP cases in Chinese courts” of the year. Although not having precedential weight, these cases serve as a reference and guide people’s courts at all levels regarding their intellectual property trials. It’s always interesting to see which cases get chosen, since it reflects what concepts and messages the Courts want to highlight to the public. Below, we highlight one of the 50 typical IP cases. Shimano KK v SENSAH Smart Sports Equipment Co., Ltd[(2019) Supreme Court Minshen No.5466] In China, cases can turn completely on a single determination…
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Polymorph Patents in China: What is the Standard for Inventiveness for New Crystal Forms?
This case is focused on polymorphs, namely what are the standards for novelty and inventiveness when it comes to new crystal forms of a known drug? A recent Supreme People’s Court decision in China is illustrative of the way Chinese courts are thinking about polymorph patents in China. Grünenthal is a German pharmaceutical company and inventor of the opioid painkiller Pentadol[1]. Grünenthal has a Chinese patent (ZL 200580021661.1) with claims directed towards a new crystalline form of particular phenol hydrochloride (“tapentastat hydrochloride” and “Form A” in claim 1), processes for preparing tapentastat hydrochloride (claim 3), and processes for preparing Form A (claims 16 and 23). Form A is made by…
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Stealing Trade Secrets: How the Chinese Court Criminally Sentences Employees that Steal Trade Secrets – 2019 China’s Top 50 Representative IP Cases
The theft of trade secrets has always been a deep concern of foreign companies thinking of doing business in China, whether it be sharing protocols with a manufacturing partner, providing technology details to a potential investor, or sharing results from an R&D collaboration. How can businesses ensure that employees do not steal secrets and share them with others, such as competitors? If such stealing occurs, what are the consequences? Recently, China chose to highlight this topic in one of its Top 50 Representative IP Cases. Hua Xing v. Lin, Ye, and Zheng (2018 粤13刑终361号) emphasizes the criminal nature of violating and misappropriating trade secrets and the possible consequences for those…
