Centering on a bead toy, two enterprises from Japan and Australia came to China for a patent lawsuit. A Japanese company called Epoch Toys alleged Moose Toys, Shanghai Musha E-commerce, two individuals surnamed Yang and Pi have infringed its invention patent. Shanghai IP Court later made its first instance, ordering an injunction against Moose and Musha and 800,000 yuan in damages and reasonable expense paid up to Epoch. As of publication, the ruling is in effect.
The plaintiff Epoch Company is a Japanese toy manufacturer. In February 2016, the company filed a patent application titled soluble bead toy, which was granted on September 16, 2015. In February 2016, Epoch purchased three types of bead toys produced by Moose from a Taobao shop named Shanghai Jinxi E-commerce Company. After comparison, the purchased toys were suspected of falling into the protection scope of the patent claims. Considering that Jinxi Company had become defunct, Yang and Pi shall bear the relevant civil liability as shareholders of the company.
Epoch then filed the case at Shanghai IP Court, seeking an injunction against all of the above-mentioned defendants and 1.323 million yuan in damages and reasonable expenses from Moose.
One of the reasons motivating the two foreign enterprises to choose China as the location of litigation is that the alleged infringing products are labeled Made in China. After hearing and receiving no contradicting evidence from Moose, the Court held that the products alleged of infringement were produced in China. In addition, although the Made in China label was marked according to the rules governing appellations of origin for import and export goods, the information about manufacturer and manufacture location of the alleged infringing products has given a clear idea of the origin and quality guarantee to buyers. The Court then confirmed that Moose manufactured the alleged products in China.
The Court held that the patent claims of the soluble bead toy can be dissected into the following technical features: one type of soluble bead toy; polyhedral granular beads made of transplant soluble resin; the grain diameter of the granular beads are about three to six millimeter. After comparison, the alleged infringing products own all of them.
In this connection, the Court made the above-mentioned judgment. (by Feng Fei)
(Editor Shao Jingjing)
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