Case Brief

Valeo Systemes d'Essuyage in France is the patentee of an invention patent under patent No. 200610160549.2 entitled "Wiper Connector for Motor Vehicle and Corresponding Connection Device." It argues that the acts of manufacturing and sales of wiper products by Xiamen Lukasi Car Accessories Co. Ltd. and others constitute infringement over the patent right involved and requests to order Xiamen Lukasi Car Accessories Co. Ltd. and others to stop the infringement, compensate for economic losses and reasonable expenses for rights protection of 6 million yuan. In the first instance procedure, Valeo Systemes d'Essuyage in France filed an application for behavior preservation in the lawsuit, requesting to order Xiamen Lukasi Car Accessories Co. Ltd. and others to stop the infringement immediately. Subsequently, the court in the first instance made a partial judgment ahead of time, determining that Xiamen Lukasi Car Accessories Co. Ltd. and others constituted the infringement and ordered them to stop it, but did not simultaneously handle the relevant application for behavior preservation. Xiamen Lukasi Car Accessories Co. Ltd. and others were dissatisfied and filed an appeal; Valeo Systemes d'Essuyage in France did not file an appeal but still insisted on its application for behavior preservation in the lawsuit. After 40 days of receipt of the case, the SPC held a public court session and pronounced its judgment. Based on correction of the determination of functional features in the first instance judgment, the court pronounced a judgment of rejecting the appeal, upholding the original judgment, and pointed out in the judgment that the relevant application for behavior preservation in the lawsuit can be supported according to the situation of the case, to fill the gap of legal effect where the first instance judgment is temporarily unenforceable due to the appeal.

Typical Significance

This case is the first time that the SPC IP Court has sounded the "first hammer" of the trial after its establishment, and it is the first public display of the court to fulfill the trial function under the appeal trial mechanism for intellectual property cases in the national level. The judgment, in this case, reflects a clear orientation of strengthening intellectual property protection and makes helpful explorations: in the substantive aspect, clarifying the standard for determining functional features to avoid inappropriate limitations on the protection scope of patent rights and ensure that the patentee obtains the right protection scope matching the technical contributions; and in the procedural aspect, advocating for timely and efficient remedy rights through a determination manner of "preliminary judgment + temporary injunction" to protect parties involved from "winning the lawsuit but losing the market."

(Source: General Office of the SPC of the PRC)