Brief of the case
Recently, Unitalen's client, Qingdao A Company (hereinafter referred to as "A Company") contacted Unitalen and alleged that it found that the carton forming machine exhibited by Hebei B Company (hereinafter referred to as "B Company") at the 13th China Dongguang International Carton Packaging Machinery Expo was suspected of infringing on a plurality of its patent rights, and hoped that Unitalen's attorney team could draw up a right protection plan to stop B Company's infringement acts.
Considering that the exhibition only lasts for three days, the Unitalen attorney team, with their experience and professional level in handling cases, quickly developed a rights protection plan for the client based on the situations. After commission confirmed by A Company, the Unitalen's attorney team immediately began their work: on the one hand, on the day of commission, they screened and selected suitable patents for A Company as the basis for right protection; on the other hand, in the morning of the second day of the exhibition, in order to prevent failure of obtaining evidence of infringement after the exhibition, our attorneys invited a notary to the exhibition and notarized and preserved the infringement facts of B Company. In the afternoon of the same day, our attorneys actively contacted and coordinated with the head of the IP management unit at the exhibition site, and in his accompany, conducted an on-site investigation into the infringing equipment at the exhibition site and made preliminary negotiations on behalf of A Company with the head of B Company regarding their willingness to settle the dispute. On the third day of the exhibition, under the coordination of the local patent administration department, both parties reached an agreement through friendly consultation, and finally signed a settlement agreement, agreeing that B Company should immediately stop displaying the infringing carton forming machine at the exhibition and immediately stop the infringing acts. At this point, our attorney team has successfully defended the legitimate rights and interests of A Company.
Highlight of the case
In recent years, economic activities in exhibitions have gradually flourished, and the IP right infringement acts during exhibitions have also correspondingly risen. However, the short exhibiting time has greatly limited the attorney team's handling of highly professional patent protection cases. Our attorneys have successfully assisted A Company in safeguarding its rights mainly through the following two aspects:
Rapid response, specialization and cooperation
It took only two and a half days from accepting the client's commission to the parties reaching consensus and signing a settlement agreement, which benefited from the rapid response of our attorneys who divided tasks clearly within the team. At the same time, our attorneys separately pushed for notarization and preservation and filed administrative complaints, and timely synchronized progress and intelligence information with each other. Ultimately, B Company stopped exhibiting infringing equipment after the second day of the exhibition.
Multiple strikes, joint force formed
In order to fight against infringement acts of B Company, we have developed a right protection strategy that balances administrative and judicial approaches: firstly, to advance the case-filing process in accordance with administrative investigation and punishment procedures; secondly, to push for evidence preservation for potential infringement lawsuits; thirdly, to make full use of the mediation mechanism for IP disputes in the exhibition to meet the urgent need of safeguarding rights in the exhibition. Advancements in multiple paths with mutual cooperation and formation of a joint force ensure the ultimate success of the right protection action.