On 1 April 2016, a revised commentary dealing with aspects of infringement litigation issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) entered into force. The commentary stems mainly from judicial practice and in its 31 articles provides guidance for judges handling infringement disputes of patents, utility models and designs. It covers, inter alia, issues of claims' interpretation, indirect infringement, standard implementation and legal origin of goods defences, cease of infringing activities, calculation of damages, effects of invalidation on infringement proceedings.

In some ways, the commentary could be regarded as an interim measure adopted prior to the ongoing, more comprehensive revision to the Chinese patent law. The main aim is to resolve issues with the length of patent litigation, difficulty of proving damages and the low amount of compensation available under the current framework.

The text of the commentary can be found on SIPO's website. Further details, such as a press release and related Q&A have been published on the website of the Supreme People's Court. (This information is currently available in Chinese only).