Recently, in the trial of Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. v. Beijing Feimi Technology Co., Ltd. and Jiutian Zongheng (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. for infringement of design patent rights, the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court adopted the "advanced judgment + interlocutory injunction" approach, based on a part of the patent infringement facts that have been ascertained, made an advanced judgment to stop the infringement. At the same time, cooperate with interlocutory injunction measures, to explore the most stringent judicial protection new mechanism of patent rights.

In this case, the design patent that the plaintiff DJI claimed to protect, ZL201830345094.5 "Yun-Tai Camera" has won the 21st China Appearance Patent Gold Award, and has extremely high patent quality. The newly revised Patent Law meets the needs of the Hague Agreement and increases the protection of design patents. In the trial of the case, the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court increased the judicial protection of high-quality design patents in accordance with the guidance of the newly revised Patent Law.

"The case made full use of the diversified technical fact-finding mechanism, and adopted the method of technical investigation by the technical investigator participating in court proceedings to issue technical investigation opinions and requesting the patent examiner of the National Intellectual Property Patent Examination Cooperation Center to issue technical advisory opinions. The alleged infringing design is similar to the design claimed by the plaintiff. This is the first time in a patent case in Guangdong court.” The trial judge of the case introduced, “In the process of finding out that the alleged infringing design falls within the scope of the patent protection in the case. Based on facts, we determined that the defendant’s actions constituted patent infringement, and we made an advance judgment and ordered the defendant to bear the legal responsibility to stop the infringement.”

Since the advance judgment to stop the infringement has not yet taken effect, it is impossible to reach the goal of timely stop the infringement by executing the first-instance judgment. Therefore, when the right holder applies for a temporary injunction, the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court creatively introduces the "advanced judgment + interlocutory injunction" adjudication method to give full play to the deterrent effect that the temporary injunction can immediately apply for enforcement, and realized the value of the advance judgment to the largest extent, and fully protected the interests of the patentee.

Making an advance judgment on the basis of ascertaining the facts of patent infringement can effectively protect the patent. At the same time, an interlocutory injunction is issued when the first-instance judgment has not yet taken effect and is not enforceable, which can stop patent infringement in time, and avoid the patentee suffering from irreparable damages, such as a decline in market sales. It will also help facilitate the two parties to settle the damages, save judicial resources and improve the efficiency of patent cases.

Source: China IP Today