1. Limitation of action for intellectual property
The Supreme People’s Court pointed out in the “Several Provisions on the Application of Law in the Trial of Patent Dispute Cases” that the limitation period for patent infringement is two years, calculated from the date when the patent owner or interested party knows or should know of the infringement. If the patent owner files a lawsuit more than two years later, if the infringement is still continuing at the time of the lawsuit, the people’s court shall order the defendant to stop the infringement during the validity period of the patent right, and the amount of damages for infringement shall be calculated two years from the date when the patent owner filed the lawsuit with the people’s court. The Supreme People’s Court also made similar provisions on the application of the limitation period for infringement in the “Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Copyright Civil Dispute Cases” and “Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Trademark Civil Dispute Cases”.
2. Provisions on the jurisdiction of intellectual property courts
(1) Patent infringement disputes shall be under the jurisdiction of the people’s court at the place where the infringement occurred or the defendant’s residence.
The place of infringement includes: the place where the products alleged to infringe the invention or utility model patent rights are manufactured, used, promised for sale, sold, imported, etc.; the place where the patent method is used; the place where the products directly obtained by the patent method are used, promised for sale, sold, imported, etc.; the place where the design patent products are manufactured, sold, imported, etc.; the place where the acts of passing off other people’s patents are committed; and the place where the infringing results of the above-mentioned infringements occur.
If the plaintiff only sues the manufacturer of the infringing products and does not sue the seller, and the place of manufacture and sale of the infringing products are not the same, the People’s Court of the place of manufacture shall have jurisdiction; if the manufacturer and the seller are jointly sued, the People’s Court of the place of sale shall have jurisdiction.
If the seller is a branch of the manufacturer and the plaintiff sues the manufacturer of the infringing products for manufacturing and selling at the place of sale, the People’s Court of the place of sale shall have jurisdiction.
(2) Cases involving copyright infringement and trademark infringement shall be under the jurisdiction of the People’s Court of the place where the infringement is committed, the place where the infringing copies are stored or seized, or the defendant’s place of residence.
The storage place of infringing copies refers to the place where infringing copies are stored or concealed in large quantities or frequently; the place of seizure and detention refers to the place where the customs, copyright, industry and commerce and other administrative authorities have sealed and detained infringing copies in accordance with the law.
In copyright infringement disputes and trademark infringement disputes, for joint lawsuits filed against multiple defendants in different places where the infringement was committed, the plaintiff may choose the People’s Court at the place where the infringement of one of the defendants was committed to have jurisdiction; for lawsuits filed against only one of the defendants, the People’s Court at the place where the infringement of the defendant was committed has jurisdiction.
(3) Infringement disputes involving computer network copyrights shall be under the jurisdiction of the People’s Court at the place where the infringement occurred or the defendant’s residence.
The place of infringement includes the location of the network server, computer terminal and other equipment that committed the alleged infringement. If it is difficult to determine the place of infringement and the defendant’s residence, the location of the computer terminal and other equipment where the plaintiff discovered the infringing content can be regarded as the place of infringement.
(4) Infringement disputes involving computer network copyrights shall be under the jurisdiction of the Intermediate People’s Court at the place where the infringement occurred or the defendant’s residence.
If it is difficult to determine the place of infringement and the defendant’s residence, the location of the computer terminal and other equipment where the plaintiff discovered the domain name can be regarded as the place of infringement.
(5) Other intellectual property infringement disputes shall be under the jurisdiction of the people’s court at the place of infringement or the defendant’s residence.