*AI-generated translation, for reference only.

[Keywords]

Civil; patent ownership; new productive forces; substantive resolution of disputes; diversified dispute resolution; circuit trial

[Case Facts]

The dispute in this case concerns the ownership of an invention patent right titled "An mRNA (Messenger Ribonucleic Acid) Formulation for an Osteoarthritis Pharmaceutical Preparation, and its Preparation Method and Application." The mRNA technology involved in this patent is a key common and cutting-edge technology in the biopharmaceutical sector, and is a typical representative of new quality productive forces.

The plaintiff, Shenzhen Zhen [REDACTED] Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhen [REDACTED] Company), was established in January 2018. It is a high-tech start-up company co-founded by three researchers who returned to China from renowned overseas universities—Yu [REDACTED], Wang [REDACTED], and Hu [REDACTED]—with the aim of promoting the research, development, and translational applications of mRNA technology in the biopharmaceutical sector. After returning to China, both Yu [REDACTED] and Hu [REDACTED] worked in the same research team at a technology research institute affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the [REDACTED] Research Institute).

In September 2019, Hu [REDACTED] founded Shenzhen Rui [REDACTED] Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Rui [REDACTED] Company). The patent at issue was applied for by Rui [REDACTED] Company in June 2021 and granted in October 2021. The plaintiff, Zhen [REDACTED] Company, considered the patent at issue to be a service invention created by Hu [REDACTED] in the course of his duties at Zhen [REDACTED] Company, and accordingly filed an action with the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, requesting the court to confirm that the patent at issue belongs to Zhen [REDACTED] Company. The Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen rendered Civil Judgment (2022) Yue 03 Min Chu No. 2925 on 2 December 2022, dismissing the claims of Zhen [REDACTED] Company. Zhen [REDACTED] Company refused to accept the judgment and appealed to the Supreme People's Court.

[Mediation Outcome]

The parties to this case had been in dispute for many years. The matter involved conflicting interests among multiple parties, and the parties' respective claims differed significantly. During the second instance proceedings, the collegial panel traveled to Shenzhen, Guangdong Province for circuit trial, and conducted on-site investigation, evidence collection, mediation, and reconciliation efforts. On 4 December 2024, National Constitution Day, a five-member collegial panel presided over by Vice President of the Supreme People's Court and Grand Justice Tao Kaiyuan held a public hearing at the Supreme People's Court, at which the parties were facilitated to reach a Package settlement, resolving in a single proceeding the series of cases involving the patent ownership dispute, the trade secret infringement dispute, and the contract dispute. The Supreme People's Court subsequently issued a civil ruling approving Zhen [REDACTED] Company's application to withdraw its action. During the hearing, at the proposal and in the presence of the presiding judge, the three researchers who had returned from overseas—Yu [REDACTED], Wang [REDACTED], and Hu [REDACTED]—reconciled their differences and had a precious photograph taken of them shaking hands and exchanging smiles. After the hearing, the parties traveled specially from Shenzhen to Beijing to present the collegial panel with a silk banner.

This case introduced innovative approaches to mediation work, fully leveraging the exemplary and guiding role of senior judges presiding over cases, promoting a people-centered and fresh working style, and employing multiple measures to facilitate the parties in reaching a Package settlement. The specific approaches included: first, maintaining political guidance and, through substantive and comprehensive resolution of disputes, better serving the development of new quality productive forces; second, upholding and developing the new era "Fengqiao Experience," and pursuing "determination of rights" on the foundation of "clarification of right and wrong"; third, having court presidents and tribunal chiefs personally take the lead and model the way, providing an important guarantee for the timely and effective resolution of major disputes; and fourth, implementing a people-centered and fresh working style, attending to details with warmth and care, and thoroughly conducting work with the parties.

[Mediation Guidelines]

1. For novel, complex, and difficult intellectual property cases involving the development of new quality productive forces, the exemplary and guiding role of court presidents and tribunal chiefs presiding over cases shall be fully leveraged to better achieve mediation for reconciliation, determination of rights to end disputes, and substantive resolution of disputes.

2. When adjudicating cases, the Supreme People's Court follows the principles of "undertaking circuit trial when warranted" and "conducting all warranted circuit trial," giving full play to the positive role of circuit trial in facilitating access to justice for the public, enabling more accurate ascertainment of case facts, and leveraging third-party forces for diversified dispute resolution, thereby promoting the substantive resolution of disputes.

3. When conducting mediation and reconciliation work, the facts of the case shall be objectively and accurately ascertained; the background and context of the dispute shall be thoroughly investigated through various means such as field visits and investigations; and an evidentiary foundation for the determination of right and wrong shall be established. On the basis of identifying the "root causes" and "emotional knots" of the parties, relevant persons who are familiar to all parties shall be invited to jointly carry out dispute resolution work. At the same time, overall planning and coordination shall be upheld, with the aim of resolving multiple disputes among all parties in a single comprehensive process through an approach that addresses the broader picture by starting with a specific point.

[Related Index]

Article 157, Paragraph 1, Item 5 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (amended in 2023)

Article 336 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (Fa Shi [2015] No. 5, amended in 2022)

First Instance: Civil Judgment (2022) Yue 03 Min Chu No. 2925 of the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province (2 December 2022)

Second Instance: Civil Ruling (2023) SPC IP Civil Final 871 of the Supreme People's Court (19 December 2024)