An equivalent feature is a feature that, as compared to the feature described in a claim, performs substantially the same function by substantially the same means, produces substantially the same effect, and can be associated by an ordinary person skilled in the art without any inventive work. While determining whether a prosecuted product falls within equivalent infringement, the means, function, effect, and inventive work should be determined in the above order. Only when all four elements of a feature meet the above conditions, the feature can be determined as an equivalent feature.

When determining whether an infringement is established by employing the equivalent doctrine, it is necessary to compare technical features of an involved patent with those of an alleged infringing product, so division of technical features will influence determination of an equivalent feature. In this case, the Supreme People’s Court suggests that for division of technical features of a claim, a technical unit that is able to implement a relatively independent technical function generally should be considered as one technical feature, and it should not designate multiple technical units that implement different technical functions as one technical feature.

The case relates to an infringement dispute between Patentee, Wanqing BAI, and Chengdu Nanxun Marketing Service Center (hereinafter referred to as “Nanxun Center”), Shanghai Tianxiang Industry Co.,Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Tianxiang Industry”).

The patentee, Zhaoqing New Leader Battery Industry Co.,Ltd. et.al.(“New Leader Battery” hereinafter), has a utility model patent No. ZL01234722.1 titled “Mercury-free Alkaline Button Cell Battery.” The involved patent underwent three rounds of invalidation after the date of authorization proclamation. Finally, the Patent Reexamination Board (the “PRB” hereinafter) made the No. 13560 decision on the request for invalidation (hereinafter referred to as the invalidation decision) on June 9, 2008 declaring that all claims of the involved patent are invalidated. In the subsequent administrative litigation, both the court of first instance and second instance judged that the invalidation decision should be reversed.

Xi’an Qinbang Telecommunication Material Co.,Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Qinbang”) is the patentee of Chinese Invention Patent No. ZL01106788.8 titled “Method for Manufacturing Smooth Metal-shield Composite Belt.” Qinbang brought a patent infringement lawsuit to the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court against three defendants including Wuxi Longsheng Cable Material Factory (hereinafter referred to as “Longsheng Factory”) and other two entities, claiming monetary damages and injunctions.

Claim interpretation is the key to determine the scope of protection of claims. The meaning of the claims can be determined based on internal and external evidence using a variety of interpretation methods, wherein the methods of interpretation can verify each other, eliminating contradictory, uncertain or ambiguous conclusions in order to obtain reasonable and accurate protection scope of the claims.

The judge held in this case that, if, by looking into the nature and degree of the typing mistakes, the person skilled in the art can naturally identify the typing mistakes and appreciate the corrected meaning of the typing mistakes, the typing mistakes shall be interpreted in a corrected manner. Consequently, negative effect of the typing mistakes on validity of valuable patents can be reduced, especially in the current circumstance where there exists no post-grant correction procedure for correcting typos and other clerk errors.

The judge proposed an important principle for claim construction in this case, holding that the claim construction should comply with the purpose of invention described in the detailed description of the patent application.

With China’s rapid economic developments, the relevance of similar goods and services changes with the method of commercial trading, consumption habit, and consumer psychology. However, the Classification of Similar Goods and Services may not include all the goods and services, and there are often contradictions when determine whether goods and services are similar or not. There is a new trend that the Chinese Trademark Office (CTMO), the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB), and the courts begin to grant cross-class protection by deeming goods and services similar.

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Avago”), successfully obtained registration for its core trademark (A Logo) (Registration No. 5226289, red color designated) in China in January 2010.
The application for registration of the A Logo was filed in the name of Argos Acquisition Pte. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Argos”) in 2006 (the A Logo was later assigned to Avago in 2009). In 2008, the A Logo was rejected by the Chinese Trademark Office (CTMO) on the ground that it shall be deemed similar to the prior registered trademark (International Registration No. 789052) in terms of similar goods. Avago filed a rejection appeal before the TRAB.