*AI-generated translation, for reference only.

[Case Brief]

Melamine, also known as tripolycyanamide, is a very important organic chemical raw material widely used in plastics, textiles, electrical appliances, medicine, flame-retardant new materials and other industries. Sichuan Chemical Company A and Beijing Technology Company B were joint owners of the invention patent titled "Energy-saving and resource-saving gas phase quenching melamine production system and process thereof." Sichuan Chemical Company A also owned the technical trade secret of a 50,000 t/a melamine production system using the pressurized gas phase quenching method. Yin, a former engineer of Beijing Technology Company B and former Chief Engineer and Director of Technology Center of Sichuan Chemical Company A, was one of the inventors of the above-mentioned patent and participated in the research and development of the relevant technical trade secrets. To construct a 50,000 t/a melamine production line, Shandong Chemical Company C entered into a tripartite agreement with two Ningbo companies, under which the two Ningbo companies were to provide technology and construction design respectively. The two Ningbo companies illegally obtained from Yin a technology package containing the patented technical solution and other technical trade secrets, and engaged Yin to help modify the corresponding technical drawings and paid him a high remuneration. During the construction of the production line, Yin traveled to the construction site of Shandong Chemical Company C on multiple occasions to troubleshoot problems and provide technical guidance. In April 2014, one production line entered trial production, and by May 2020, the reasonable profits of Shandong Chemical Company C from producing and selling melamine products using this production line ranged between 257 million yuan and 436 million yuan. Sichuan Chemical Company A and Beijing Technology Company B subsequently filed patent infringement and technical trade secret infringement lawsuits in courts in Guangdong and Sichuan respectively. In the patent infringement case, the court of first instance found that Shandong Chemical Company C and the two Ningbo companies had jointly infringed the patent-in-question. In the technical trade secret case, the court of first instance found that four defendants, including Shandong Chemical Company C, had jointly infringed the technical trade secrets. Both courts of first instance ordered cessation of infringement and partially supported the claims for compensation. The Supreme People's Court amended the judgments on second instance to fully support all claims of the right holders, ordering the destruction of the infringing production system within a specified period, and ordering the four infringers to jointly and severally compensate the right holders for economic losses and reasonable expenses, totaling 218 million yuan.

[Expert Committee Opinion]

This case represents the highest compensation awarded by the People's Courts for intellectual property infringement related to the same engineering project. The patent case was amended on second instance to award compensation of 120 million yuan, the highest amount awarded by the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court since its establishment. The technical trade secret case was amended on second instance to award compensation of 98 million yuan, representing another high compensation award for technical trade secret infringement by the Intellectual Property Court following the "Vanillin" case in 2021 which awarded 159 million yuan. By actively exploring the specific methods and scope of injunctive relief, the two cases effectively protected intellectual property rights. The judgments in these cases fully reflected the trial philosophy of strengthening judicial protection of intellectual property rights in the new era through robust protection, effective protection, and equal protection.