Large number of infringing products were found on Chinese e-commerce platforms, and these products have exported to Australia and the United States, and other regions, which had a negative impact on the client's market share.

Evidence collection and strategy making

In order to stop the infringement, on March 3, 2024, the client commissioned Chang Tsi & Partners to launch a patent action against the target.

Upon investigation and analysis, it was noticed that the infringing products were manufactured and sold by 4 affiliated companies located in the same region. On March 14, investigator and notary from Chang Tsi & Partners went to the target and obtained evidence of infringement onsite.

Considering the infringing products are distributing globally to seize the market, the client needs to stop the infringement in the shortest possible time. With high efficiency and strong enforcement, Chang Tsi & Partners planned to file a patent infringement administrative complaint before the local Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to stop all infringements in a single case.

File patent administrative rulings to initially stop infringing acts

After preparing the detailed evidence, Chang Tsi filed an administrative complaint on patent infringement disputes with the IPO against the four companies on March 21, 2024. During the whole process, Chang Tsi stayed in touch with the local authorities to convince the existence of violations and the urgency of taking actions. On March 27, local bureau issued the case and launched joint operation to seize infringing products. Dozens of boxes with thousands of products were dealt and all infringing links on e-commerce platform have been taken down.

Administrative decision on patent infringement

The four companies hired professional patent lawyers to raise non-infringement defenses in the form of reply brief. Chang Tsi conducted research on the defense and wrote several legal opinions to refute as a reference for local bureau.

On May 31, 2024, Chang Tsi went to the local bureau for the oral hearing and argued the points of contention in the reply brief. After the oral hearing, Chang Tsi submitted his representation to the panel, taking into account the focus of the hearing and the matters about which the panel had questions.

On July 1, 2024, the local bureau adopted all the opinions submitted by Chang Tsi & Partners, and determined that the manufacturing and sale of infringing products by the four companies constituted infringement and should be stopped. The administrative ruling takes effect from the issued moment and can be used in customs, e-commerce platforms and other intellectual property offices to stop further infringements.

Conclusion

It can be seen from this case that it took less than a month from customer commission to initial stopping of infringement, and less than four months from the client's commission to the administrative injunction. Administrative complaint is a fast and efficient procedure to stop patent infringement.

According to our experience, the local IP bureau around the country have extremely high efficiency in case handling and promoting which basically closed within four months from acceptance. Moreover, local IP bureau attach great importance to administrative rulings, employ technical investigators to conduct fact-finding and technical comparison, and have the determination to deal with difficult legal issues.

Based on the above experience, Chang Tsi & Partners actively adjusted the strategy of rights protection. In the past year alone, we have obtained favorable administrative rulings in a number of intellectual property offices in Guangdong and Zhejiang, and maintained positive interaction with local intellectual property offices to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the rights holders.