Recently, General Office of the Supreme People's Court of the P.R.C released the TOP 10 Intellectual Property Cases and 50 Model Intellectual Property Cases, which were adjudicated in China’s courts in 2019. Among them is the advance execution in a design patent infringement case (litigants: Zhengzhou Yetou Network Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Tmall Network Co., Ltd., Ding Xiaomei and Nantong Suao Textile Co., Ltd.) [Civil Ruling of Jiangsu Nanjing Intermediate People's Court (2019) Su 01 First Instance No. 687]. The defendant Zhengzhou Yetou Network Technology Co., Ltd. was represented by attorneys-at-law Wang Yuping and Luo Shunyao, excellent Fangben patent team members. The case is known as China’s first reverse act preservation injunction case.
Case Brief
The Defendant Zhengzhou Yetou Network Technology Co., Ltd. is a merchant selling mosquito nets on the online shopping platform Tmall. In early March 2019, the Plaintiff Ding Xiaomei complained to Tmall that the said mosquito nets infringed upon one of her design patents thereof and requested Tmall to delete sales links involved of the products. Fangben patent team aggressively prepared counter-notification materials on behalf of the Defendant, and successfully saved the Defendant's sales links on Tmall. However, as the Plaintiff filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in early April 2019 and complained to Tmall again, Tmall deleted the sales links in accordance with provisions in the E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China (2018).
The products in controversy fall into the category of seasonable products for summer and then were in the peak season, and the judgment in this case would not yet be made for a period of time. In order to mitigate the client’s losses, Fangben submitted an application for preliminary ruling to the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court on behalf of the Defendant, requesting the court to rule that Tmall restore all the links of the client’s products on its online shopping platform. Because such application for preliminary ruling as applied by Fangben on behalf of the Defendant was the first in China, the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court attached great importance to it. After many rounds of internal discussions and studies, it finally admitted Fangben’s application and made this first domestic ruling. The preliminary ruling is of great significance in fighting back malicious complaints on the Internet e-commerce platform and preventing malicious litigation.
On October 20, 2019, the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court issued (2019) Su 01 First Instance No. 687 Civil Judgment and dismissed all of the Plaintiff Ding Xiaomei's claims. Ding Xiaomei appealed the first-instance judgment to the Jiangsu Provincial High People’s Court to overturn the tribunal's ruling, or vetoing it, but later withdrew her case. On March 19, 2020, the Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court made (2019) Civil Ruling Su Final Instance No. 1822, allowing Ding Xiaomei to withdraw her appeal. The case has been successfully closed by Fangben's patent team, who always strongly safeguards the legitimate interests of clients. Fangben will continue to provide clients with premier quality legal services.
