Practicalities of Litigating in China- or –

What it’s REALLY like

Gill SmithDirector of IP

Dyson Technology Limited

Dyson’s Bladeless Fan

Administrative Actions

Good Fast Secret Cost effective Can order infringer to

stop infringing Can withdraw business

licence Can impose fines Provides evidence for

civil actions

Not so Good Delays Reluctant to impose

serious sanctions No damages

Civil Actions

Good Really fast, compared

to most countries No discovery Short hearings Appeal process is also

very fast

Not so Good Paperwork is painful No discovery Decisions based on

evidence and admissibility

No sanction for what we would call perjury

Evidence

Good There seem to be

plenty of notaries and investigators about

Not so good Everything has to be

notarised – and legalised if is originates outside China

It will always take longer than it should

You have to allow the infringer to carry on while you gather evidence

Damages

Good Courts will award

damages

Not so good Very low, especially for

infringements of designs

No discovery showing full extent of infringement

Based on evidence Probably won’t be paid

– certainly not in full

Customs

Good Seizures can be made

on the way out of China as well as on the way in

Not expensive to put in place

Investigators willing to get information needed to identify shipments

Not so good Needle in a haystack For us, only likely to

work if we can pinpoint a container

My frustrations about China

No accelerated examination, even when infringement is happening

Applications by Chinese applicants examined faster

No acceleration of invalidity proceedings when a related civil action is pending

THANK YOU!