*AI-generated translation, for reference only.

[Keywords]

Civil; infringement of invention patent rights; standard essential patent; interim measures; anti-anti-suit (enforcement) injunction

[Case Facts]

Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. filed two patent infringement actions against Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd., Shandong [REDACTED] Trading Co., Ltd., and Shandong [REDACTED] Information Technology Co., Ltd. on the grounds that they infringed its rights in two Chinese invention patents with patent nos. 20181153****.9 and 20181075****.2, titled "Method and Apparatus for Transmitting HE-LTF Sequences" and "Method, Apparatus, and Device for Resource Scheduling" respectively (hereinafter referred to as the patents at issue), requesting the court to order the above three companies to immediately cease infringement and jointly compensate for reasonable expenses incurred in enforcing rights in the amount of RMB 1,000,000 per case (same currency hereinafter).

The Intermediate People's Court of Jinan, Shandong Province, upon first-instance adjudication, determined that the accused infringing products offered for sale, sold, and imported by Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd., and offered for sale and sold by Shandong [REDACTED] Trading Co., Ltd. and Shandong [REDACTED] Information Technology Co., Ltd., fall within the protection scope of the patents at issue; that Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. had fulfilled its fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing obligations in the licensing negotiations; that Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. had manifestly delayed negotiations, put forward unreasonable counter-offers, and failed to actively respond to the licensing offers of [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd., thereby exhibiting clear fault in the licensing negotiations; and that the acts of Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd., Shandong [REDACTED] Trading Co., Ltd., and Shandong [REDACTED] Information Technology Co., Ltd. infringed the patents at issue. The Intermediate People's Court of Jinan rendered Civil Judgments (2022) Lu 01 Zhi Min Chu No. 407 and No. 408 on 7 June 2024, ordering Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd., Shandong [REDACTED] Trading Co., Ltd., and Shandong [REDACTED] Information Technology Co., Ltd. to cease infringement, and ordering Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. to compensate for reasonable expenses incurred in enforcing rights in both cases totaling RMB 702,278. Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. refused to accept the judgments and appealed to the Supreme People's Court.

During the second instance proceedings in both cases, Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. filed an interim measures application on 20 December 2024, with Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. and US [REDACTED] Company as respondents, requesting an order prohibiting the Wang [REDACTED] parties from applying to foreign courts for anti-suit or anti-enforcement injunctions. The Supreme People's Court rendered Civil Rulings (2024) SPC IP Civil Final 914 and No. 915 on 22 December 2024, prohibiting the Wang [REDACTED] parties from applying to foreign courts for anti-suit or anti-enforcement injunctions. After the rulings were issued, the parties reached a global settlement. Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. submitted a request to withdraw its action on 8 January 2025; Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. expressed its agreement and on 8 January 2025 submitted a request to withdraw its appeal; and the Supreme People's Court concluded the case on 15 January 2025 with a ruling approving Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd.'s withdrawal of action.

[Judge's Opinion]

The court held in its binding judgment: The core subject matter of the interim measures application filed by Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. during the second instance proceedings in both cases is a request for the court, with respect to the two Chinese patents at issue, to order the Wang [REDACTED] parties not to apply to foreign courts, customs, or administrative enforcement authorities for an order requiring the Hua [REDACTED] parties to abandon the ongoing second-instance litigation in these two cases (i.e., an application for a so-called anti-suit injunction), or for an order that the Hua [REDACTED] parties not apply in the future to enforce any cease-and-desist judgment obtained from a Chinese court (i.e., an application for a so-called anti-enforcement injunction); such an application falls within the scope of interim measures applications under Chinese law. The interim measures application filed by Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. should be granted. The specific grounds are as follows:

First, the interim measures application filed by Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. has factual and legal basis. Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. is the patentee of the two patents at issue, which are Chinese invention patents granted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration pursuant to the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China; the patents are currently valid and their intellectual property effects are relatively stable. Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. filed the present two patent infringement actions in Chinese courts against Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. for allegedly infringing the two Chinese patents at issue; the Chinese courts, namely the Intermediate People's Court of Jinan, accepted these two actions in accordance with the provisions of Article 29 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China governing jurisdiction in tort cases, and in accordance with the internationally recognized principle of territoriality of intellectual property protection. US [REDACTED] Company, based on its interest relationship with Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd., applied to US courts for so-called anti-suit (enforcement) injunctions against judicial relief proceedings including the present two patent infringement actions filed by Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. in the Intermediate People's Court of Jinan, attempting to obstruct the ongoing litigation of Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. in Chinese courts, manifestly without legitimate grounds.

Second, failure to grant interim measures would cause irreparable harm to the legitimate rights and interests of [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd., or would result in the inability to continue the present two proceedings or in difficulties in enforcing any judgment rendered. With respect to standard essential patents, the patentee, based on the principle of good faith and the FRAND licensing commitment made in the course of the standard-setting process, is generally not entitled to request the accused infringer to cease implementing its standard essential patent where the accused infringer bears no obvious fault. However, where the accused infringer has exhibited obvious fault in the standard essential patent licensing negotiations—such as delaying negotiations and failing to actively respond to the patentee's licensing offers—the patentee remains entitled to request the accused infringer to cease implementing its standard essential patent. Based on the facts established in the first-instance judgments in these two cases, it can be preliminarily determined that Wang [REDACTED] (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd. exhibited obvious fault in the licensing negotiations concerning the standard essential patents at issue, and is not a bona fide and good-faith patent implementer, while Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. did not deliberately breach its FRAND licensing obligations. In these circumstances, the legitimate rights and interests of Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. as a bona fide licensor should receive full legal protection. If US [REDACTED] Company's application for so-called anti-suit (enforcement) injunctions against the present two actions were granted by US courts, this would at minimum compel Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. to consider terminating its ongoing litigation in Chinese courts, including abandoning any future application to enforce Chinese court judgments, and its legitimate rights and interests would clearly suffer irreparable harm.

Third, failure to grant interim measures would cause Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd. harm that clearly outweighs the harm that granting interim measures would cause the Wang [REDACTED] parties. Granting Hua [REDACTED] Technology Co., Ltd.'s application and implementing interim measures would only impose on the respondents and their affiliated companies a procedural obligation of non-action for a certain period, causing no additional loss whatsoever to the Wang [REDACTED] parties. Fourth, granting interim measures in these two cases would not harm the public interest, nor have any other factors been identified that require special consideration.

[Judgment Digest]

Where a standard implementer applies to a foreign court for an anti-suit (enforcement) injunction against patent infringement proceedings filed by a standard essential patent holder in a Chinese court, and the standard essential patent holder responds by submitting an anti-anti-suit (enforcement) injunction application to the Chinese court adjudicating the patent infringement proceedings, the people's court, upon preliminary review, may grant the application of the standard essential patent holder if it determines that: the standard essential patent holder has fulfilled its FRAND licensing commitment in the licensing negotiations; and the standard implementer has exhibited obvious fault in the licensing negotiations and intends to improperly obstruct the standard essential patent holder's legitimate procedural rights to advance the adjudication of the case and the enforcement of any judgment in Chinese courts.

[Related Index]

Articles 103, 111, and 118(1) of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (amended in 2023)

Article 7 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Review of Intellectual Property Dispute Interim Measures Cases

First Instance: Civil Judgments (2022) Lu 01 Zhi Min Chu No. 407 and No. 408 of the Intermediate People's Court of Jinan, Shandong Province (7 June 2024)

Second Instance: Civil Rulings (2024) SPC IP Civil Final 914 and No. 915 of the Supreme People's Court (22 December 2024)

Civil Ruling (2024) SPC IP Civil Final 914 and 915-1 of the Supreme People's Court (15 January 2025)