China civil litigation analysis

IP Komodo has been playing with the Rouse litigation analysis tool Ciela.

Over 12,000 IP decisions from China have been put into a database and is available for searching, at no cost. It can be used to search by city, court, year and other variables. Most importantly you can use it to compare two cities to decide where to sue. This is especially useful when there is a choice of forum as is common in China.

Why for example are damages awards for patent infringement on average higher in Guangzhou than Shanghai? See here (One answer appears to be that its all statutory damages awards in Guangzhou). For other more estoteric questions, users can contact Rouse for assistance.

Guest post by IP Komodo Dragon

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Beijing, Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang IP Litigation Data

Mr Will Lewis, an international business law and IP rights student at University of San Diego School of Law, tells on his blog Experience not logic that he was given a slew of data on IP litigation between domestic parties and between a domestic party and a foreign party in Beijing, Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang courts. He posted the data and let readers interpret it for themselves. Later in the week, Mr Lewis will post his interpretation to the data along with other's interpretations.

Find the IP litigation data on these courts in Mr Lewis' article China IP Litigation Data: What Does it Mean? on his interesting blog called Experience not logic quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

UPDATE: Mr Lewis has interpreted the data and comes to the conclusion that although the data are inconclusive, they at least suggest that businesses should not be scared about an inability to protect their IP in China. Read Mr Lewis interpretations here.

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Wragge & Co and Graf von Westphalen Open Up Shop in Hong Kong and Guangzhou

Vanessa Arora of the TheLawyer.com wrote that UK law firm Wragge & Co together with German ally Graf von Westphalen will launch a firm in Hong Kong and in Guangzhou.

Wragge's IP specialist Gordon Harris will spend its time in the UK and China.
Dr. Walter Scheuerl is Graf von Westphalen's IP specialist, see here.

Read Arora's article here.
The announcement of the China offices by Graf von Westphalen you can find here in German.

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