Experience: A Patent Infringement Litigation in China

Jeffrey Thurnau, Assistant General Counsel for IP, Gates Corporation, USA

The intellectual property rights (IPR) protection of China has become a worldwide hot topic. China, as a manufacturing giant, will inevitably become a country with a large number of intellectual property related disputes related to manufacturing in transnational corporations (TNCs). Patent litigation is increasingly common in China. According to recent statistics, the number of intellectual property litigation cases in 2014 is about 133863, among which the number of patent litigation cases is about 10187. The authors of this paper participated in a patent litigation case in China through judgment as the Defendant and directly experienced patent litigation’s procedure and features in China. This paper intends to share with readers the authors’ observations and insights based on their personal experiences and will perhaps serve to address some of the concerns associated with patent litigation in China. This paper also provides some comparisons with United States (“U.S.”) practice.

Jeffrey Thurnau is Assistant General Counsel for Intellectual Property for a major automotive components manufacturer with facilities worldwide. Mr. Thurnau holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado. He is a p

Gates Corporation was founded in Denver, Colorado over 100 years ago and is a major supplier of automotive components worldwide. Gates’ highly engineered products are critical components used in diverse industrial and automotive applications where the cos