The Official Reply of the Supreme People’s Court on the Division of Patent and Trademark-related Cases after the Revisions of the Patent Law and the Trademark Law

(Fa [2002] No. 117, 21 May 2002)

To: Beijing High People’s Court

We acknowledge the receipt of “Request for Instruction on the Division of Patent and Trademark-related Cases” (Jing Gao Fa [2001] No. 317) from your court. As a result of examination, we hereby reply as follows:

In order to adapt to the requirements of accession to the WTO, China’s patent law and trademark law have been revised accordingly and the systems in which the administrative decision made by the Patent Review Committee or the Trademark Evaluation Committee is final has been abolished. According to the provisions of the revised laws, if dissatisfied with the review decision made by the Patent Review Committee or the ruling made by the Trademark Evaluation Committee, a party concerned may file a lawsuit to the people’s court. According to the relevant provisions of the Administrative Procedure Law, such cases shall come under the jurisdiction of the Beijing High and Intermediate People’s Courts. In determining the internal division of these cases, i.e., what cases should be tried by which court, not only should the relevant provisions be strictly followed, but the current actual conditions of trial should also be taken into account, so as to avoid any contradiction between the results of the administrative trial and the civil trial regarding the same intellectual property. Based on this, regarding the civil lawsuit accepted by the people’s court involving patent right or the exclusive right to use a registered trademark, the intellectual property department in the people’s court should try those administrative cases with a lawsuit filed because a party concerned is dissatisfied with the review decision made by the Patent Review Committee on a request for a declaration of invalidation or dissatisfied with a ruling made by the Trademark Evaluation Committee regarding the same patent right or trademark, whereas the administrative department in the people’s court should try other administrative cases involving dissatisfaction with the review decision made by the Patent Review Committee or the ruling made by the Trademark Evaluation Committee.