The Supreme People's Court ("SPC") recently drafted the Provisions on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Patent Civil Cases Involving the Review and Approval of Marketing of Drugs (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") for public comments. Collection of comments has ended by this date.

According to the Draft for Comment, where a patentee or an interested party applies for behavior preservation in the litigation stated in Article 76 of the Patent Law, requesting that a drug marketing authorization applicant be prohibited from manufacturing, utilizing, offering for sale of, selling or importing the patented drug within the validity period of the relevant patent rights for production and commercial purposes or from being about to do so, it shall provide a guarantee; otherwise, the court shall reject the application. The Draft for Comment stipulates that a party concerned has the obligation to keep confidential the trade secrets of other parties concerned that are obtained during the litigation, and that those who disclose without authorization, use or allow others to use the aforesaid trade secrets shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law. In addition, the Draft for Comment also provides clarity on such matters as the jurisdiction, case filing, and suspension of litigation.

(Source: Supreme People’s Court)