China's Supreme Court Promulgates Provisions on Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases of Patent Disputes Related to Drugs Applied for Registration
On 5 July 2021, the Supreme People's Court of P.R.C. (SPC) promulgated the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases of Patent Disputes Related to Drugs Applied for Registration, which have come into effect upon promulgation.
This judicial interpretation is among a series of provisions, including the Measures for the Implementation of the Early Resolution Mechanism for Drug Patent Disputes (Trial Implementation) and the Administrative Adjudication Measures for the Early Resolution Mechanism for Drug Patent Disputes, that are formulated and enforced to facilitate the due implementation of the revised Patent Law effective 1 June 2021, in particular in relation to the drug patent linkage system introduced by Article 76 thereof.
Specifically, this 14-article judicial interpretation stipulates patent linkage-related procedural issues for litigation, with a view to fostering the link of the litigation procedure to the relevant drug review and approval process as well as the relevant administrative adjudication proceeding, and facilitating the consistency of the IP administrative enforcement standards and judicial adjudication standards concerning the matter. The judicial interpretation covers such issues as distribution of jurisdiction for patent linkage-related cases, parallel handling of litigation and administrative adjudication, interlocutory injunction, and the patentee or interested party's compensation liabilities for bad faith litigation.
