Recently, our intellectual property team of Zhongyin (Shenzhen) Law Firm received a favorable civil judgment from the Supreme People’s Court [Case Number: (2022)Zui Gao Fa Min Zai No. 63]. In the judgment, the Supreme People’s Court explicitly stated, “ After the expiration of a design patent, if the operator is still using the design patent and that use meets the protection conditions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law shall provide protection for such use. This protection is rightful based on the competitive interests of the operator, and it shouldn’t be deemed as a disguised extension of the protection period of design patent. It encourages operators to run their businesses in good faith and safeguards the market order.”

Ganten Company is a well-established Chinese group that produces and sells bottled drinking water. One of its brands is Baisuishan, Premium Water, which enjoys a high reputation in mineral water market. Through long-term use and publicity, the design and packaging of Baisuishan mineral water bottle with “spiral-shaped grooves” has established the sole and unique link with Ganten Company. The bottle used by the accused infringer has four spiral-shaped grooves in roughly the same position, and the only difference is that its bottle has two additional grooves. The Higher People’s Court of Shaanxi Province held that the 10-year protection period of Ganten Company’s relevant design patent had expired, and thus the design had become part of the public domain. With the unique packaging of its products that had a certain influence before, Ganten Company claimed that the other party constituted unfair competition under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which represents a departure from the spirit of the Patent Law, namely, “trading monopoly for publicity, and private rights for public interest”. Therefore, the court issued an unfavorable civil judgment [ Case Number: (2020) Shan Min Zhong No. 993, hereinafter referred to as the “second-instance judgment”] in which Ganten’s claims were rejected.

Entrusted by Ganten Company, we appealed the case with the Supreme People’s Court. After the joint efforts of our lawyers and other cooperative lawyers, the Supreme People’s Court made a civil ruling [ Case Number: (2021) Zui Gao Fa Min Shen No. 3188] on November 19, 2021, and finally brought the case to retrial. The Supreme People’s Court held that the fact finding and law application of the second-instance judgment were wrong and shall be corrected in accordance with the law. The court stated, “the disputed bottle design is common cylinder, but it has relatively straight bottle shoulders and the groove design of the bottle body has its own features. After long-term use and publicity by Ganten, the disputed design and packaging have established a stable association with Ganten and can be used to identify the source of products. The disputed design and packaging have constituted packaging or decoration that has certain reputation under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.” Therefore, the Supreme People’s Court reversed the second-instance judgment and upheld the first-instance judgment.

The intellectual property team of Zhongyin (Shenzhen) Law Firm currently has more than ten practicing lawyers, patent attorneys, and engineers, who are committed to protecting the intellectual property rights and business secrets of the clients. Some members of the team have studied or practiced abroad in the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, etc and are able to speak fluent English, German, or Japanese. The team has always adhered to the craftsman spirits of “Devotion, Advance, Efficiency, Excellency”, and continues to provide high-quality litigation and non-litigation services for clients all over the world.