Today, under the guidance of the Changning District Intellectual Property Administration of Shanghai and the Changning District Justice Bureau of Shanghai, and hosted by the Changning District Intellectual Property Association of Shanghai, with the co-organization of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association and the Changning District Shangning Legal Mediation Service Center of Shanghai, the “New Quality Driving Force, Intelligent Future” 4·26 Intellectual Property Forum was successfully held. During the event, the list of “Outstanding IP Cases 2025 by Shanghai Changning IP Association” was released.Lusheng Law Firmwas honored to be selected for its representation of a certain internationally renowned energy-saving sanitary ware brand owner in the second-instance case concerning a dispute over infringement of design patent right brought against it.
Brief Case Overview
In October 2023, a natural person, Mr. Kuang, filed a lawsuit with the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court for infringement of design patent right, alleging that an internationally renowned energy-saving sanitary ware brand company (hereinafter referred to as the “Well-known Sanitary Ware Brand”) had infringed his design patent right in respect of a certain pull-out faucet product, and requested that the court order the sanitary ware brand company to immediately cease the infringing acts and compensate for losses and reasonable expenses in a total amount of RMB 200,000. Mr. Kuang notarized the online shops and webpages selling the accused infringing products on JD.com, Taobao and Pinduoduo platforms, and conducted notarized purchase and evidence collection for products sold by some of the shops.
As an internationally renowned energy-saving sanitary ware brand, it enjoys a very high reputation in the global sanitary ware industry and has neither the need nor the possibility to copy others’ design patents. In the first instance, the sanitary ware brand company submitted on its own initiative an appraisal opinion on the accused infringing products, civil judgments against certain infringing shops on Taobao, online infringement complaint records and other evidence. This evidence preliminarily demonstrated that the accused infringing products were not produced, sold or offered for sale by the sanitary ware brand company itself. However, in June 2024, on the basis of finding that products sold by some shops were counterfeit products bearing the brand of the sanitary ware brand company, the court of first instance, without determining whether products sold by other shops were counterfeit products, directly held the sanitary ware brand company liable for ceasing infringement and for paying damages of RMB 50,000.
After the first-instance judgment, the Well-known Sanitary Ware Brand filed an appeal with the Shanghai High People’s Court and engaged Lusheng Law Firm to act as its counsel in this case. The focal point in dispute in this case was whether the internationally renowned energy-saving sanitary ware brand company had committed acts infringing the natural person’s design patent right at issue. In the second instance, the attorneys of Lusheng supplemented and submitted a large volume of evidence, including the sanitary ware brand company’s infringement complaint records against shops on platforms such as Taobao and Pinduoduo, cease-and-desist letters sent, civil judgments in lawsuits it had initiated, the appearances of all pull-out faucet products manufactured and sold by the sanitary ware brand, and evidence showing that numerous shops on the market were counterfeiting the well-known brand in selling the accused infringing products. This successfully convinced the judges that the negative fact that the client had not produced or sold the accused infringing products had reached a high degree of probability. In January 2025, the Shanghai High People’s Court rendered its second-instance judgment, overturning the first-instance judgment, dismissing all of Mr. Kuang’s claims, and ordering him to bear all case acceptance fees for both the first and second instances.
Typical Significance
1. After purchasing products bearing the trademark of the internationally renowned energy-saving sanitary ware brand owner from an e-commerce platform, the natural person, Mr. Kuang, brought a lawsuit against the brand owner for infringement of his design patent right. In fact, the products purchased by Mr. Kuang were counterfeit products bearing the registered trademark of the brand owner. The brand owner received a court summons without cause and was forced to participate as a defendant in a dispute over infringement of design patent right, and was held liable for infringement in the first instance. This was an undeserved misfortune and extremely unreasonable for the brand owner. However, in the current context of rampant counterfeit products bearing various brand owners’ registered trademarks, the brand owner’s experience is somewhat representative.
2. In the context of an unfavorable first-instance judgment rendered by the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court against the sanitary ware brand company, the second instance achieved a reversal against the odds, with the Shanghai High People’s Court fully supporting the appeal requests raised by the brand owner. The purpose of this case is to prevent right holders from bearing legal liability for infringement of others’ lawful rights and interests by counterfeit products due to their failure to discover in a timely manner that their trademarks have been counterfeited, or due to objective reasons such as delayed or unsuccessful enforcement actions. This is of great significance for protecting the lawful rights and interests of intellectual property right holders, maintaining normal market order, enhancing the innovative vitality of market entities, and strengthening confidence in China’s intellectual property system.
3. In the second-instance proceedings, the sanitary ware brand company, through argumentation and evidence production, successfully convinced the judges that it had not produced or sold products infringing the plaintiff’s design patent right, thereby effectively avoiding bearing extremely unreasonable infringement liability. The final judgment forcefully safeguarded the lawful rights and interests of the sanitary ware brand company as a company operating with integrity and in compliance with laws and regulations in the Chinese market, effectively avoided unwarranted economic losses, and protected the reputation of the sanitary ware brand as a century-old well-known brand. This case is of referential value for brand owners in proving the establishment of the negative fact that they do not produce or sell infringing products.
————Case-handling Team————
QIAO Rongde, Senior Partner, Lusheng Law Firm
QIAO Rongde is a seasoned expert in the practice and research of intellectual property law in China, with over 24 years of practice experience. She was awarded the renowned Max-Planck Scholarship in her early years and later obtained a Doctor of Laws degree in Intellectual Property Law from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. She has extensive experience in the fields of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and unfair competition, and her clients span industries such as technology, electronics, telecommunications, chemicals, daily chemicals, pharmaceuticals, media and entertainment, fashion, and sports. Ms. Qiao has represented a large number of cutting-edge and complex cases, including multiple annual leading cases selected by, among others, the Supreme People’s Court. Ms. Qiao has been recommended by numerous international legal ranking institutions and authoritative media, including Managing IP, World Trademark Review, IAM (Intellectual Asset Management), and Who’s Who Legal, and has been listed in rankings such as “IPHouse: Top 50 Outstanding IP Lawyers in China” and “IAM Global Leaders”. She actively participates in the drafting and revision of laws related to intellectual property in China and currently serves as a council member of the China Intellectual Property Law Association.
Email: sqiao@lushenglawyers.com
WANG Hui, Senior Associate, Head of Administrative Litigation Team, Lusheng Law Firm
WANG Hui has profound experience in the practice of intellectual property law, with her work covering trademarks, unfair competition, copyrights and design patents. She is particularly adept at trademark administrative litigation, such as handling issues involving recognition of well-known trademarks, protection of prior rights and cross-class protection. She has represented numerous cutting-edge cases, several of which have been recognized by courts as typical cases, and sheparticipated in handling a trademark administrative dispute case that was selected by the Supreme People’s Court as one of the “2018 Typical Intellectual Property Cases”.
Email: mwang3@lushenglawyers.com
WANG Shengjian, Associate, Lusheng Law Firm
WANG Shengjian has handled numerous types of intellectual property cases, including but not limited to trademark infringement, unfair competition, copyrights and design patents. He serves many world-renowned enterprises whose businesses cover industries such as media and entertainment, automobiles, sanitary ware, apparel and food. He has represented multiple cutting-edge cases, one of which was selected as one of the “Top Ten Typical Cases of Intellectual Property Protection in Shanghai in 2019”, and several of his cases have obtained recognition of well-known trademarks from the Beijing High People’s Court and the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.
Email: bwang@lushenglawyers.com
