Settling Disputes at “Accelerated Speed”

Guangdong Takes Multiple Measures to Strengthen Administrative Adjudication of Patent Infringement Disputes—

From January to September this year, Guangdong accepted a total of 830 administrative adjudication cases involving patent infringement disputes and concluded 878 cases, with the total number of handled cases ranking among the top in the country. These figures reflect the solid steps and notable results of Guangdong Province in vigorously advancing the standardization of administrative adjudication of patent infringement disputes.

In recent years, the Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office has thoroughly implemented the deployments and requirements of the China National Intellectual Property Administration on administrative adjudication of patent infringement disputes. It has introduced a series of working measures and made targeted efforts in optimizing the tiered case-handling system, standardizing case quality and efficiency management, deepening reform pilots and innovation, and building a strong professional case-handling team. It has continued to standardize case-handling procedures, unify adjudication standards, and consolidate the foundation for duty performance, fully leveraging the institutional advantages of administrative adjudication—efficient, convenient, and capable of quickly settling disputes—to comprehensively enhance intellectual property protection capacity and level.

Consolidating the Foundation Through Systematic Deployment

Achievements cannot be separated from systematic planning and institutional support. In building the tiered case-handling system, Guangdong has continued to optimize its working structure and established a pyramid-shaped case-handling model in which “the state handles major cases, the province coordinates cross-regional cases, and municipal-level authorities serve as the main force in case handling.” It has improved the mechanism for allocating cases at different levels, clarified the core case-handling responsibilities of municipal-level intellectual property departments, and further strengthened the province’s capacity to coordinate and handle major and complex cases. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Regulations on Intellectual Property Protection of Guangdong Province, Guangdong has strengthened municipal-level case-handling capacity through methods such as municipal-level commissioned case handling and municipal-county joint case handling, consolidated the responsibilities of districts and counties for coordinated case handling and the professional support functions of intellectual property protection centers at all levels, and strictly implemented the municipal-level whole-process review and gatekeeping system to firmly safeguard the bottom line of case quality.

At the same time, based on the goal of efficiently utilizing administrative resources, Guangdong has adhered to the principles of accepting all cases that should be accepted, combining mediation with adjudication, and adjudicating all cases that should be adjudicated. For cases in which both parties reached a settlement consensus, mediation statements are prepared in accordance with laws and regulations; for cases in which mediation fails and no consensus is reached, administrative adjudication decisions are promptly made in accordance with law, effectively strengthening the institutional authority of administrative adjudication.

Having clarified “who handles cases” and “how to handle them,” deepening reform pilots has focused on how to “handle cases more professionally and more standardly.” An official from the Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office introduced that the province has advanced in depth the reform of commissioned adjudication of patent infringement disputes, relying on the Guangdong Intellectual Property Protection Center to centrally handle major, difficult, and industry-impactful patent infringement cases across the province. It supports localities in building standardized oral hearing rooms relying on intellectual property protection centers and rapid rights protection centers, and, in conjunction with the fields covered by patent pre-examination services, promotes centralized hearing of cases by technical field. It actively explores the establishment of a coordinated linkage mechanism between administrative adjudication and patent invalidation proceedings. It supports Shenzhen in carrying out pilot construction of administrative adjudication of standard essential patents, focusing on key areas such as the application of the “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” (FRAND) principle in standard essential patent licensing, resolution of batch disputes, and handling of foreign-related patent disputes, summarizing and refining standardized case-handling procedures, and forming reform practice experience that can be replicated and promoted.

For the hearing of high-tech and complex patent cases, Guangdong has continued to improve the technical fact-finding system and improve the dual support mechanism combining “professional consultation from Patent Examination Cooperation Centers and technical investigators.” Industry technical experts are invited to participate throughout the process and provide professional support, precisely overcoming difficulties in determining technical facts in complex cases. At the same time, Guangdong has continued to deepen administrative-judicial linkage, unify adjudication and trial standards, smooth the channels for judicial confirmation of administrative mediation, and promote the substantive resolution of patent infringement disputes. The Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office has also established regular linkage mechanisms with customs, e-commerce platforms, and industry associations, consolidated the responsibilities of all parties for coordinated protection, built a closed loop for whole-process case handling, and ensured that administrative adjudication results are implemented and enforced in place.

In order to build a strong composite professional case-handling team and consolidate the foundation for performing administrative adjudication duties, Guangdong has comprehensively standardized all links in the whole case-handling process, including case filing review, oral hearings, evidence admission, case collegial deliberation, service of documents, and time-limit management. It has optimized the allocation of case-handling personnel, prioritizing the selection and allocation of staff with legal professional qualifications to engage in administrative adjudication work, encouraging case handlers to obtain legal professional qualifications and patent agent qualifications, and continuously cultivating composite professionals with both legal and technical expertise. It has improved error-tolerance and incentive mechanisms for case-handling duty performance, encouraged staff to perform their duties lawfully and impartially, and stabilized and optimized the province’s professional administrative adjudication case-handling team.

Testing Quality and Efficiency Through Practical Case Handling

The effectiveness of institutional design and work deployment must ultimately be tested in specific cases. In exploring commissioned adjudication, Guangdong has, at the provincial level and in Shantou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and Shenzhen, lawfully commissioned intellectual property protection centers to conduct administrative adjudication. Guangzhou has withdrawn the independent administrative adjudication authority of districts and counties and implemented a municipal-level unified commissioning of districts, counties, and intellectual property protection centers to conduct adjudication. The province has added 70 commissioned adjudication case handlers, making the administrative case-handling force more solid.

Standard essential patent governance is an important window through which to observe the professional level of Guangdong’s administrative adjudication. In the field of standard essential patent governance, at the provincial level, through commissioned hearing by the Guangdong Intellectual Property Protection Center, technical investigators have been introduced to accurately ascertain technical facts, multiple rounds of mediation have been organized, and parties have been promoted to reach settlements under the FRAND principle. Relying on its advantage as a national pilot, Shenzhen has professionally heard batches of standard essential patent disputes, successfully facilitated package settlements among enterprises and the signing of cross-licensing agreements, effectively resolved long-standing industry disputes, and promoted industrial entities to move from confrontation to coordinated development.

Moreover, in recent years, Guangdong has continued to expand the functions of administrative adjudication. In accordance with new rules on patent administrative adjudication, Guangzhou concluded the province’s first consultation case confirming non-infringement, issued an authoritative consultation opinion through professional technical comparison, effectively resolved operational and financing difficulties caused by infringement warnings, and broadened enterprises’ channels for administrative remedies. Zhongshan efficiently concluded a design patent infringement dispute, adhered to flexible law enforcement and mediation priority, and while settling the dispute, guided enterprises to optimize product design and avoid infringement risks, achieving an organic unity of law enforcement case handling and assistance to enterprise development. Dongguan properly handled a case involving infringement by an entity in another jurisdiction and a party’s passive response to the proceedings. Relying on notarized evidence collection, on-site inspection, and third-party statements, it formed a complete evidence chain, accurately determined jurisdiction, established the facts of infringement, lawfully conducted a default hearing and made an adjudication, providing a standardized model for handling similar difficult cases.

From individual case handling to industry protection, Guangdong has continuously strengthened intellectual property protection in key industries. It has precisely focused on the biomedicine field, efficiently carried out administrative adjudication of patent infringement disputes, and strengthened special protection of pharmaceutical patents. Since the beginning of this year, the Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office has directly handled four important pharmaceutical patent disputes, all of which were efficiently adjudicated and concluded, safeguarding the innovative development of the province’s biomedicine industry with precise and strong administrative protection.

“Next, we will continue to intensify our efforts, strengthen standardized and professional management and control of administrative adjudication, deepen governance work in key areas such as standard essential patents and pharmaceutical patents, comprehensively improve the standardized performance level of administrative adjudication of patent infringement disputes across the province, and empower the province’s high-quality economic and social development with high-level intellectual property protection,” said an official from the Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office.