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Assessment of Patent Validity Is Not Allowed in Patent Infringement Cases in China
Recently, China's Supreme Court vacated the 1st instance and 2nd instance court judgments of Shang Hengzhong v. Kunming HengXing Package Material Inc., and remanded the case to the lower courts. This case was listed among the Top 10 IP cases of Yunnan Province in 2015. The 1st instance and 2nd instance courts held that the patent specification failed to provide further explanations about how the two unsmooth curves as claimed are formed or implemented and the patentee failed to make reasonable and convincing explanations and statements, which caused the claim scope to be indefinite.
The Supreme Court held that: first, courts are not allowed to challenge the patent validity in civil patent infringement cases and shall not reject the claims of the plaintiff directly on the grounds that the concerned patent cannot be implemented; second, it is incorrect to construct claims based on the explanations of the parties concerned. According to the Supreme Court, claim construction shall be based on the patent specification and drawings, not the explanations of the parties concerned, and it is not dependent on whether the patent can be implemented.
In this case, the Supreme Court made clear that assessment of patent validity rests with the Patent Reexamination Board of the SIPO and courts shall presume a patent valid in civil patent infringement cases without accepting patent invalidity as a defense.