By participating in the patent litigation cases brought before the courts of the US, EU, and other jurisdictions, Chinese courts are shown to be supporting their own companies’ intellectual theft, Voices Against Autocracy reported.
Instead of listening to the plea of foreign firms, China’s courts have been found to be imposing low royalty rates for patents on 5G and other technology created by Chinese corporations used in smartphones and other tech products.
Notably, a patent is a matter of exclusive territorial rights and only applicable to countries where it is filed and granted provided both the filing and file countries are signatories to International Patent Co-operation Treaty, Voices Against Autocracy stated.
However, such decisions taken by the Chinese courts also include threats to impose harsh fines on foreign corporations that, in some cases, can reach USD 1,50,000 per day, for their patent lawsuits.
Chinese businesses have been abusing its provisions to get an advantage over other nations.
When the European Union (EU) challenged China’s use of its courts to prevent non-Chinese telecom vendors from supporting their patents, the modus operandi came to light in February 2022. The World Trade Organization received a complaint about Chinese policy on 3G, 4G, and 5G patents (WTO), according to Voices against Autocracy.
Patent owners are required by Chinese courts to file their lawsuits only there.
If the patent holder doesn’t follow the rules, they risk harsh penalties like having their business assets seized and paying substantial fines. Chinese businesses save a lot of money by not paying royalties, but businesses from the EU and the US need to make billions from licensing payments, Voices Against Autocracy reported. (ANI)
