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Interpretation by the
Supreme People's Court of the Issues Relating to
Application of Law to Pre-trial Suspension of Acts of Infringement of
Exclusive Right to Use Trademarks and to Evidence Preservation
(Adopted
at the 1203rd Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's
Court on 25 December 2001, and enters into force on 22 January 2002)
The Interpretation of the Issues
Relating to Application of Law to Pre-trial Suspension of Acts of
Infringement of Exclusive Right to Use Trademarks and to Evidence
Preservation is hereby made as follows in accordant with the relevant
provisions of the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's
Republic of China, the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China
(hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Law) and the Civil Procedure
Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the
Civil Procedure Law) with a view to protecting the legitimate rights and
interests of the trademark registrants and interested parties: |
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Article 1 Pursuant to the provisions of Articles
57 and 58 of the Trademark Law, the trademark
registrants and interested parties may file
applications with the People's Court for
ordering pre-trial suspension of acts of
infringement of the exclusive right to use
trademarks or for evidence preservation.
The interested parties who may file said
applications include licensees of registered
trademark licensing contracts and lawful heirs
of the property right in registered
trademarks. Of the licensees of registered
trademark licensing contracts, the
monopolisingly exclusive (excluding the licensor
and any other licensee) licensees of registered
trademark licensing contracts may alone file the
application with the People's Court; the
exclusive (excluding any other licensee)
licensees of registered trademark licensing
contracts may do so where the trademark
registrants do not.
Article 2 The applications for ordering
pre-trial suspension of acts of infringement of
exclusive right to use trademarks or for
evidence preservation shall be filed with the
People's Court having the jurisdiction over
trademark cases of the places where the
infringing acts occur or where the defendants
have their domicile.
Article 3 Trademark registrants and interested
parties filing applications for ordering
pre-trial suspension of acts of infringement of
exclusive right to use trademarks shall submit
written applications. In the written
applications shall be indicated:
(1) the interested party and the basic
information thereof;
(2) specific subject matter and scope of the
application; and
(3) cause of the application, including the
specific statement that failure to promptly
suspend the infringement will cause suffer
irreparable injury to the legitimate rights and
interests of the trademark registrants and
interested parties.
Trademark registrants and interested parties
filing applications for evidence preservation
shall submit written applications. In the
written applications shall be indicated:
(1) the interested party and the basic
information thereof;
(2) specific subject matter and scope of the
application;
(3) object attestable by the evidence of which
preservation is requested; and
(4) cause of application, including specific
statement that the evidence is like to be
destroyed or hard to be obtained afterwards, and
the interested party and, moreover, his or its
agent ad litem cannot collect evidence on their
own for objective reasons.
Article 4 When filing the application for
ordering pre-trial suspension of acts of
infringement of exclusive right to use
trademark, the applicant shall submit the
following evidence:
(1) The trademark registrant shall submit the
Certificate of Trademark Registration, and the
interested party shall submit the trademark
licensing contract, documents submitted for
filing with the Trademark Office and a copy of
the Certificate of Trademark Registration; where
an exclusive licensee of registered trademark
licensing contract files an application, it or
he shall submit proof that the trademark
registrant has waived application; where an heir
of the property right in a registered trademark
files an application, it or he shall submit
proof of its or his inheritance or ongoing
inheritance.
(2) Evidence attesting that the respondent is
executing or is going to execute the act of
infringement of the exclusive right to use the
registered trademark, including the accused
infringing goods.
Article 5 The adjudication made by the People's
Court on pre-trial suspension of acts of
infringement of exclusive right to use trademark
or on evidence preservation shall be limited to
the scope as of the application filed by the
trademark registrant and interested party.
Article 6 When filing the application for
pre-trial suspension of an act of infringement
of exclusive right to use trademark, the
applicant shall provide guaranty.
Where an applicant's application for pre-trial
evidence preservation is likely to involve
property loss to the respondent, the People's
Court may order the applicant to provide
guaranty accordingly.
Where the guaranty provided by the applicant in
the form of pledge, hypothecation or the like,
the People's Court shall give its permission.
Where the applicant does not provide the
guaranty, the application shall be rejected.
When determining the scope of the guaranty, the
People's Court shall take account of the income
from the sales of the goods in respect of which
the relevant act is ordered to be suspended, the
appropriated fees for warehousing and
care-taking thereof, the reasonable injury
likely to be caused by suspending the relevant
act, etc..
Article 7 Where, in the course of enforcing the
adjudication to suspend the relevant act, great
injury is likely to be caused to the respondent
because of the adoption of the measure, the
People's Court may order the applicant to
provide additional guaranty accordingly. Where
the applicant fails to do so, the relevant
suspension measures may be cancelled.
Article 8 The measure adopted in adjudication on
suspension of an act of infringement of
exclusive right to use trademark shall not be
cancelled because of the provision of guaranty
by the respondent, except that the applicant
otherwise agrees.
Article 9 Where the application filed by a
trademark registrant or an interested party for
suspension of an act of infringement of
exclusive right to use trademark, after being
accepted by the People's Court, meets the
requirement set forth in Article 4 of this
Interpretation upon examination, the People's
Court shall make an adjudication in writing
within 48 hours; the adjudication ordering the
respondent to suspend the act of infringement of
exclusive right to use trademark shall be
immediately enforced.
The People's Court making the adjudication on
suspension of a relevant act shall promptly
notify the respondent thereof no later than the
fifth day from the date of making the
adjudication.
Article 10 Any interested party who is not
satisfied with the adjudication on pre-trial
suspension of an act of infringement of
exclusive right to use trademark may make one
application for reconsideration within ten days
from the date of receipt of the adjudication.
The enforcement of the adjudication shall not be
suspended during the reconsideration.
Article 11 The People's Court shall examine the
reconsideration application filed by the
interested party as to the following:
(1) Whether the act the respondent is executing
or is going to execute infringes the exclusive
right to use the registered trademark involved;
(2) Whether not taking the relevant measure
would result in irreparable injury to the
legitimate rights and interests of the
applicant;
(3) Provision of the guaranty by the applicant;
and
(4) Whether ordering the respondent to suspend
the relevant act would prejudice public
interests.
Article 12 Where a trademark registrant or an
interested party does not institute legal
proceedings within fifteen days after the
People's Court adopts the measure to suspend the
relevant act or to preserve evidence, the
People's Court shall cancel the measure adopted
pursuant to the adjudication.
Article 13 Where the applicant does not
institute legal proceedings or the erroneous
application causes injury to the respondent, the
respondent may institute legal proceedings in
the People's Court having the jurisdiction,
requesting the applicant to make compensation,
or requesting for compensation of damages in the
proceedings instituted by the trademark
registrant or interested party against
infringement of the exclusive right to use
trademark. The People's Court may simultaneously
handle the matter.
Article 14 The adjudication on suspension of an
act of infringement of the exclusive right to
use trademark shall normally remain valid until
the date on which the legal instrument of final
instance takes effect.
The People's Court may also fix a specific time
limit for suspending the relevant act according
to the circumstances of the case; at the
expiration of the time limit, the People's Court
may make adjudication to continue the suspension
of the relevant act at the request of, and in
line with the provision of the additional
guaranty by the interested party.
Article 15 Any respondent contravenes the
People's Court's adjudication on the suspension
of an act of infringement of the exclusive right
to use trademark or on evidence preservation
shall be treated pursuant to the provision of
Article 102 of the Civil Procedure Law.
Article 16 Where a trademark registrant or an
interested party requests to first suspend an
infringement of the exclusive right to use
registered trademark when instituting legal
proceedings in the People's Court against the
trademark infringement or in the legal
proceedings, the People's Court may first make
the adjudication. The matter provided for in the
foregoing relating to the application, evidence
submission, determination of guaranty,
enforcement of adjudication and reconsideration
shall be handled pursuant to the provisions of
this Judicial Interpretation.
Article 17 In respect of cases of pre-trial
suspension of acts of infringement of the
exclusive right to use trademarks and of
evidence preservation, the applicants shall pay
the fees according to the Methods of the
People's Court for Collecting Litigation Fees
and the Supplementary Provisions thereof.
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