Philips wins compensation from patent infringement case

Recently the Shanghai 2nd Intermediate People's Court made the first instance judgment on the case in which Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. sued Wenzhou Ridian Electrical Appliance Co. Ltd. and a storekeeper for patent infringement. The court ruled that the two defendants should stop the infringement and Wenzhou Ridian should compensate RMB 200,000 to Philips.

In June 2006, Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. bought two shavers in the store owned by Fang in Shanghai. The shavers were produced by Wenzhou Ridian Electrical Appliance Co. Ltd. Later the Intellectual Property Affairs Center of Ministry of Science and Technology indentified that the technical features of the involving shavers were identical with those of Philip's patent for invention. Then Philips instituted a proceeding before the Shanghai 2nd Intermediate People's Court.

During the trial, Wenzhou Ridian argued that it did not produce or sell the involving shavers, and that the patented technology claimed by Philips had been publicly disclosed in the industry. The other defendant Fang argued that he purchased the goods in a wholesale market in Yiwu and did not know about the infringement.

Having compared the involving shavers with the plaintiff's patented products, the court held that the technical features of the involving shavers fell into the scope of protection f the plaintiff’s patent right. According to the information on the package of the infringing shavers and the product information on the website of Wenzhou Ridian, the court established that the infringing shavers were manufactured and sold by Wenzhou Ridian. Therefore, the court ruled that the two defendants should stop the infringement, and that Wenzhou Ridian should compensate RMB 200,000 to Philips.