Case Brief:

The petitioner Guangdong Genius Technology Co., Ltd. obtained the patent right of the design entitled "Watch Phone (Z6)" (Patent No.:ZL201930053063.7) on July 5, 2019, and the patent right of the utility model entitled "A Smart Wearable Device with Cameras" (Patent No.:ZL201821610111.4) on July 9, 2019.The patent rights mentioned-above were legal and valid when the petitioner submitted the request for infringement dispute resolution. The Chongqing Intellectual Property Office placed the case on file according to law on August 14, 2020.

The petitioner held the opinion that the respondent Chongqing Readboy Company infringed the petitioner's lawful rights and interests by offering to sell and selling the patented products concerned without the petitioner's permission. The petitioner took the technical solution of Claim 7 of the patent No.ZL201821610111.4 and the Design 1 in the patent No. ZL201930053063.7 as the basis of claim, and requested the office to order the respondent to stop offering to sell or selling the products concerned immediately.

The respondent argued that the claim of petitioner should be rejected according to law for following reasons: the patents concerned are merely prior designs and that the respondent is merely a sales agent who knows nothing about the dispute over the products concerned and has a real and legal supply of products.

Upon examination, the Chongqing Intellectual Property Office made an administrative decision on December 10, 2020, determining that the respondent's defense of legal supply is untenable, and that the acts of offering to sell and selling the products concerned constitute infringement. The company was ordered to stop relevant infringing acts immediately.

Expert Comments:

This case is exemplary for four reasons. First, the patentee provides proofs of infringements of both the utility model and design for determination of facts of infringement, which is complex and difficult. Second, evidence for determining whether the acts of offering to sell and selling the products concerned of the respondent infringe patent rights of the utility model and design and whether the products are from a legal source must be full and accurate. Third, an administrative decision is a way to quickly and efficiently deal with a patent dispute, and the key points for making an administrative decision on patent infringement lie in determination of technical facts in a patent dispute and of legitimacy of evidence. Fourth, the patentee of the present case is an enterprise in Guangdong, and the respondent is an enterprise in Chongqing. During case handling, the Chongqing Intellectual Property Office made a fair decision based on facts in accordance with the procedures. This is a perfect example of how to implement the speech of president Xi Jinping at the 25^th group study session of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC regarding the mechanism for improving coordination in IPR-related work, the demand of prohibition of regional protectionism, and improvement of cross-regional intellectual property protection. (XIE Xiaoyong, deputy secretary-general (in charge) of China Intellectual Property Society)