--This Case Was Selected to the Top 8 Model Cases of Legal Protection on Intellectual Property in 2013

Beijing Janlea Patent Agency Co., Ltd’s patent agent Xuemei Zhang accepted the commission of a domestic chemical engineering company and represented its patent infringement litigation case versus a foreign company. The case received mediation. 

The plaintiff, a foreign company, filed litigation to a People’s Court in March 2010, contending that the defendant, a domestic chemical engineering company, infringed its invention patent right, with tens of millions involved. 

The defendant, the domestic chemical engineering company, found our firm and hoped that we would defend its rights. Through analyzing, the agents argued that the defendant’s production methods were not the same or the equivalent to the technical schemes that the plaintiff’s patent rights were designated to protect. The methods did not fall in to the protection range of the plaintiff’s patent and were not in compliance with the equivalence principle or the estoppel principle.

Under the common efforts of the two involved parties, the plaintiff and the defendant, a mediation was conducted by the Court. For the better development of their businesses, the two parties chose to conclude the case with mediation in the end. 

The lesson of this case: Patent infringement litigation is a complicated and time-consuming process. Fighting till the end of the line might take years for both parties and also a lot of energy. It may be a better choice for them to both step back and conclude with mediation.