On December 6^th, 2016, the Jiangsu Higher People’s Court issued a final appeal judgment finding defendant Zhejiang Yingong Sewing Machine Co., Ltd. (“Yingong”) liable for infringement of invention patent rights owned by W&B client JUKI Group (“JUKI”), a Japanese company. The court ordered Yingong to immediately cease its manufacture and sale of infringing products and to compensate JUKI for its economic losses and reasonable expenses in the amount of RMB 350,000. W&B lawyers Huang Jianguo and Shen Li secured a favorable final ruling for their client.

The case was appealed by JUKI from an adverse trial judgment. The trial court did not find Yingong to be the manufacturer of infringing products and therefore ruled that Yingong was not liable for infringement. During the appeal, however, W&B lawyers pointed out the trial court had improperly applied the “preponderance of evidence” standard of review provided in the P.R.C Civil Procedure Law even though the evidence submitted by the plaintiff at trial was sufficient to prove that Yingong was the producer of infringing products. They submitted new evidence that the defendant’s evidence as well as its claim to have sourced the infringing products from a third party were all fabricated. W&B lawyers’ efforts were rewarded when the appeals court reversed the trial court verdict by identifying Yingong as the manufacturer of the infringing products and by assessing liability against Yingong in the form of an order to cease its infringement and pay damages.

Even though reversals of trial court judgments on appeal are relatively uncommon in practice, W&B lawyers made it happen by aggressively advancing carefully targeted refutations supported by effective advocacy and new evidence. This effort ultimately resulted in the effective enforcement of JUKI’s patent rights.