IP report: Another year wiser

On April 20 2011, the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC) promulgated the Annual Report on Intellectual Property Cases (知识产权案件年度报告) (2010) (Annual Report), which comprises the SPC's 43 pieces of brief comments on 36 intellectual property (IP) cases adjudicated by the same court in 2010. Based upon the nature of dispute, the Annual Report is categorised into seven main aspects, including: 1) Patent Cases, 2) Copyright Cases, 3) Trademark Cases, 4) Anti-unfair Competition Cases, 5) IP-related Contract Cases, 6) The Liability of IP Infringement, and 7) The Evidence and Procedures in IP Litigation.

This annual report is the one that was issued by the SPC after the 2008 and 2009 reports, through which the SPC purposes to provide guidance to the judicial practice of the courts nationwide. Though China is not a case law system country, these cases selected by the SPC and the associated comments made by the SPC, however, do have the reference value equivalent to “precedents” in the case law system and the courts nationwide will follow in its adjudications. This article will discuss the SPC's opinions or interpretations disclosed in this year Annual Report. As the full text of most cases are not yet available, the comments made in this article only based on the Annual Report, without referencing the full text of the cases.