The Dream Factory of China

The punitive compensation system was applied to a case heard by the Qianhai court in which Tencent Music Entertainment Group sued NetEase Cloud Co. Ltd. for the infringement of the rights of a recording producer, demonstrating Qianhai’s determination to implement the strictest intellectual property protection measures and safeguard the innovation-driven development of the business environment in the free trade area.

Both of the litigants in this case are well-known Internet companies. The infringements involved attracted widespread public attention.

During the trial, Qianhai Court comprehensively considered the extent of subjective faults, the scale of business operation, the nature of the infringements and the consequences resulted by NetEase Cloud, and imposed a heavy penalty on the amount of compensation within the statutory compensation limit to fully reflect the spirit of punitive compensation and compensate Tencent Music for its attorney fees and rights protection expenses.

In recent years, Qianhai Cooperation Zone Authority has attached great importance to intellectual property protection and has made full use of its advantage as a demonstration area of the rule of law with Chinese characteristics granted by the Central Government in building a multi-level intellectual property protection system.

Qianhai has also actively introduced legal protection service agencies related to intellectual property. At present, Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court of the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Protection Center, Qianhai Court, South China High-Tech and Intellectual Property Arbitration Center, judicial appraisal agencies, law firms and other service agencies related to intellectual property have settled in Qianhai, forming a diversified intellectual property protection mechanism that is dominated by judicial protection, supported by administrative protection, and supplemented by arbitration and mediation, industry self-regulation and social supervision.

In 2019, the China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Protection Center accepted 67,528 electronic patent applications and 601 paper patent applications, and issued 383,000 business notices, with year-on-year increases of 18.2 percent, 16.9 percent and 14.2 percent, respectively.

The One-stop Collaborative Intellectual Property Protection Platform was officially launched in Qianhai on Nov. 26, 2019. Eight intellectual property protection institutions took the lead by settling in the center and announced their inauguration and operation, including Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, Qianhai Court and Qianhai People’s Procuratorate.

Enterprises in Shenzhen have since enjoyed “one-stop” intellectual property services for rights confirmation, administrative law enforcement, rights protection assistance, arbitration and mediation, and judicial trials. The services have provided strong support for the innovation and development of key industries in Shenzhen.