Comment On The Case Of Invention Patent Rights Infringement About KoninklijkePhilipsN.V.v. Ningbo Careline Electric Appliance Co.,Ltd. And Others

Intellectual property has become a critically strategic resource for socialist China to participate in the international competition and gain the international influence.Under the new social situation of comprehensively strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights,patentee’s awareness of safeguarding patent rights has been strengthened.Since 2012,the number of cases related to patent infringement has continued to rise.How to correctly understand,interpret and externalize the patent technical scheme carried in the written records of claims becomes one of the core issue in the decision of patent infringement.Koninklijke Philips N.V.is the patentee of invention patent No.CN200780029489.3.From 2012 to 2019,Koninklijke Philips N.V.and others filed patent infringement lawsuits against the main domestic air fryer manufacturers for seven times.Meanwhile,the patent has been filed to patent invalidation announcement for three times and still all determined to be valid.The dispute over invention patent No.CN200780029489.3 for nearly eight years ended up with the Case of Koninklijke Philips N.V.v.Ningbo Careline Electric Appliance Co.,Ltd.and others Infringement of Invention Patent Rights.The courts took the functional technical features and implicit technical features as the starting point,compared the invention patent involved with products suspected of infringement from various angles,and finally determined that products suspected of infringement were neither literal infringement nor equivalent infringement as the patent involved and did not constitute any infringement.The failure of Koninklijke Philips N.V.also thoroughly reflects that Chinese manufacturers have fully unleashed their wisdom and creativity in the process of introducing the air fryer into China,and once again proves that "Made in China" has completed the gorgeous transformation to "Made with Wisdom".The method adopted in this case which is to start to judge whether the implied technical features involved are means-plus-function features and then to interpret the implied technical features drawing support from the relevant provisions of the functional technical features of the current law.It provides a practical judgment model for the subsequent judicial practice.In patent civil litigation,the patentee should pay attention to the stability analysis of patent before litigation,treat the patent invalidation announcement with caution and assert the scope of patent protection reasonably;the alleged infringers should evaluate the possibility of infringement as soon as possible,submit the request for invalidation of patent with a definite aim and defend in advance according to the principle of estoppel.In the writing of new patent cases,the inventor or writing client can effectively promote the in-depth excavation and rational layout of high-value patents from two aspects:improving the data of technical disclosure and improving the quality of patentability search.On this basis,we can further promote the Unified Judicial Standards from two aspects: fully implementing the system of technical investigators and highly improving the active explanation procedure of functional technical feature patents in the examination process.