From Around the Blogs

1. On IPKat, Anastaslia Kyrylenko published a post titled CJEU to address compatibility of Italian anticipatory measures with Enforcement Directive.  The post discusses a recent referral from the Italian Supreme Court to the Court of Justice for the European Union, M.M. Ristorazione, C-132/25 (docketed Feb. 10, 2025).  The referral is said to pose the question whether, contrary to the courts of first and second instance, an injunction granted under article 700 of Italy’s Civil Procedure Code as an “emergency measure” (provvedimenti d’urgenza) in regard to possible trademark infringement qualifies as a “provisional measure” and therefore requires the movant to file suit within 21 business days or 30 calendar days, whichever expires later, under both TRIPS and the Intellectual Property Rights Directive.

Also on IPKat, Jocelyn Bosse published a post, titled Apple variety infringement ruling sees record-breaking amount of damages in China, about a recent decision of China's Supreme People's Court awarding RMB 3.3 million (which included a punitive component) for the infringement of a protected variety of apple.  Here is a press release about the case from the SPC itself.  Neither of these sources links to the text of the actual decision, however.

2.  The difficulty of obtaining the text of some Chinese decisions is itself something of a sore point for many, including the European Union, which has complained about it in two pending WTO matters.  The first, filed in 2022,  argues that Chinese courts’ issuance of ASIs violates articles 1, 41, and 63 of the TRIPS Agreement.  See WT/DS611—China—Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/enforcement-and-protection/dispute-settlement/wto-dispute-settlement/wto-disputes-cases-involving-eu/wtds611-china-enforcement-intellectual-property-rights_en.  As noted in a recent post on ip fray opining that the EU has lost the initial case, the panel released its report to the parties in February, but it has not yet been made publicly available, and the parties have agreed to arbitrate the appeal (there being no functioning WTO appellate body for at least the last five years).  Meanwhile, in January the EU commenced a request for consultation with China regarding China’s practices with regard to establishing the terms of global FRAND licenses, as in the 2023 Nokia v. OPPO dispute.  The EU contends that China’s practice violates Paris Convention article 4bis, as incorporated under TRIPS article 2.1, as well as TRIPS articles 1, 28, and 63. See WT/DS632-1—China—Measures Concerning Patent Licensing Terms:  Request for Consultations by the European Union, Jan. 22, 2025, https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/WT/DS/632-1.pdf&Open=True.  Enrico Bonadio has a post on the Kluwer Patent Blog, titled The WTOdispute between China and EU over Chinese SEPs global rate-setting.

3.  On SpicyIP, Yogesh Byadwal published Injunction against Natco refused:  Public Interest Triumphs—Maybe.  The post discusses a March 24 decision of the Delhi High Court in F. Hoffman-LaRoche Ag v. Natco Pharma Ltd., in which the court invoked the public interest in denying a preliminary injunction against Natco’s production of a generic version of the drug Risdiplam.