Study On The Application Of The Statute Of Limitation On Intellectual Property Infringement

The intellectual property (hereinafter called as"IP") infringement gradually becomes an infringement with the IP becoming more and more important in social progress and IP infringement cases occurring more and more. In the litigation of IP infringement, the statute of limitation of IP infringement is the first issue that court and all parties in the litigation should be confronted with because of the characteristics of IP infringement itself. This paper is about to analyze in detail and give points on the calculating point of the statute of limitation of IP infringement and how to apply the statute of limitation to the continuing infringement of IP. Meanwhile, to prevent right holders of IP from misusing litigation rights and viciously suing, and to protect properly our Chinese enterprises in international intellectual property trade, it is suggested that the laches system should be established in Chinese civil laws to operate together with the statute of limitation by learning relevant system in U.S. equity law.The paper would be divided into three parts to discuss the statute of limitation of IP infringement.Chapter one introduces and analyzes the basic issues relevant to IP infringement, namely the features of IP, the nature of IP rights, traits of IP infringement and values and functions of the statute of limitation. It's the specialty of IP infringement that causes some particularities in applying the statute of limitation of IP infringement.Chapter two specifically analyzes the basic issues in applying the statute of limitations to the IP infringement: the calculating point of the statute of limitation, the definition of continuing infringement of IP, the essence of continuing infringement of IP and the special application of the statute of limitation of continuing infringement of IP decided by that essence. And the paper also makes valuation on viewpoints and practice from scholars and courts on the application of the statute of limitation of continuing infringement of IP.Chapter three first reasons the importance of establishing matching system with the statute of limitation. Then, by comparing Verwirkung in Civil Law System with the laches system in U.S. equity law, it comes to the conclusion that comparing to Verwirkung in Civil Law System, the laches system is more suitable to current China. Following that, the paper analyses the necessity of building up the matching system with statute of limitation in China, preventing right holders from viciously suing bymisusing the special provision of the statute of limitation of continuing infringement of IP and properly protecting our Chinese in a comparatively weak statue. Thus, in the end, it's concluded that China should establish its own similar laches system in Chinese civil law by learning the laches system in U.S. equity law.