Brief Introduction

Markor International Home Furnishings Co Ltd recently made a request to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration for the settlement of a patent infringement dispute with Shanghai Youhome Furniture Co Ltd.

Markor held that Youhome displayed on official website and WeChat account products that infringed upon its design patent and that the behavior violated its exterior design patent right.

Markor requested that SIPA order Youhome to immediately stop selling or promising to sell the products and to instantly delete all public information related to the products in question.

Youhome argued that it only displayed the products but did not actually sell them, and that there was no price tag on the products being displayed. It claimed it had also taken measures to stop displaying the products after being notified of the dispute.

Under the auspices of SIPA, both parties reached a mediation agreement on the disputes involving the five design patent infringements and signed an administrative mediation agreement on patent infringement disputes.

SIPA then applied to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court for judicial confirmation of the agreement. The court accepted.

Professional Comments

The case provided a path for the mediation of IP disputes, and makes use of judicial confirmation of the mediation agreement, which improves the binding force of the mediation agreement on both parties. The model also ensures the effectiveness of the mediation agreement and saves precious judicial resources.