Beijing IP Court Hands Down Highest Damages Order in its 2-Year History in a Patent Case: 50 Million RMB

      The Beijing IP Court on December 8 awarded damages of 50,000,000 RMB ($7.2M USD) in a patent case.  This included 41 million RMB in legal fees.  This is one of the first cases after the new burden-shifting rules for damages.   Largely due to this change, damages were not limited to statutory damages.   This is the beginning of a new phase in patent damages in China.
      Importantly, the court also provided attorney fees calculated based on the necessity of hiring agents, difficulty of the case, and actual contribution of the lawyers.  This was the first time the Beijing IP Court, established in November 2014, recognized the above three factors as the principles to judge attorney fees.  

Chen Jinchuan, deputy director of the court, said they have been enhancing IP protection by greatly increasing compensation from rights violators, especially those committing bad faith and repetitive violations, so that the cost of IP infringement will no longer be low.  "The market is the best frame of reference to determine the value of IPs," he said.

The technology in suit related to USBkeys distributed by banks to customers for security.  See the Chinese government's release:
http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/BeijingInformation/BeijingNewsUpdate/t1461670.htm

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