By Kresly Shen
In September 2021, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) issued example of cases regarding antimonopoly and anti-unfair competition, listing 10 such cases including disputes over the optimised saw infringement of technical secrets. It also aims to encourage people to insist on defending their rights and reject monopolies and unfair competition.
Union Brother (Shanghai) Machinery, a manufacturer specialised in optimised woodworking machineries, won a high court case against three former technicians who infringed their technology after a nine-year court trial. The company successfully defended its intellectual property rights (IPR) as one of the typical top 10 cases in China in 2021, and the infringers were charged with full legal responsibilities and fined 6 million RMB. To further understand this case, Panels & Furniture Asia interviewed Chen Zhenjiang from Union Brother (Shanghai).
Q: The awareness of IPR in China generally falls behind most western, developed countries, and especially in the woodworking machinery industry, intellectual property (IP) infringement is a serious issue. What do you think are the reasons causing this situation?
A: Before we discuss the defending of IPR, we must first find out the reasons why infringement happens so often. It is actually caused by multiple factors, and on a large scale, it is a microcosm and reflection of social development.
To read the rest of the article from the November / December 2021 issue of Panels & Furniture Asia, click here.
