A major victory! Zhiheng Qianhai sets a landmark example for cross-border e-commerce class action lawsuits

Recently, Zhiheng (Qianhai) Law Firm (hereinafter referred to as "Zhiheng Qianhai") achieved a major victory in the SAD (Schedule A Defendants Scheme) proceedings in the United States, setting a landmark example for the field of cross-border e-commerce class action lawsuits. This victory successfully protected the legitimate rights and interests of several Chinese defendants and created a persuasive legal precedent for future judgments in similar cases.

Brief Introduction to the Case

The plaintiff, a natural person residing in China, accused 65 sellers who set up shop on a cross-border e-commerce platform of infringing their appearance patents and demanded compensation for their losses.

Second, Zhiheng Institute's professional coping strategies

In the face of this complex and difficult case, with the full support of Zhiheng Qianhailan Caiming and Gu Xiaoqing, Zhiheng Qianhai senior partner Yan Yunyun quickly took the lead and formed a strong Sino-US joint team, and worked closely with the sellers to mine the unreasonable aspects of the plaintiff's lawsuit from multiple angles, effectively countering the plaintiff's claims.

After more than four months of intense exchanges, the case reached a critical turning point when the court granted the motion to revoke the preliminary injunction, upheld the request for separation, and issued a formal written order. On the grounds that the patent might be invalid, the court revoked the plaintiff's preliminary injunction, depriving the plaintiff of the core procedural advantage of the SAD case.

In the similar US intellectual property SAD cases involving China, most of the separation motions are difficult to obtain support, and the successful cases of revocation of preliminary injunction are extremely rare. However, in this case, the defendant successfully fought back through the strategy of collective response. The court not only upheld the motion for separation and the motion to revoke the preliminary injunction, but also found that the plaintiff's patent has a great possibility of being invalid.

This judgment is groundbreaking, especially the judge's judgment on Jie Yang's patent signing, which provides a new perspective and basis for the trial of similar cases in the future.

In response to the plaintiff's malicious lawsuit, Zhiheng Qianhai attached great importance to it and, in conjunction with the joint office of Guangdong

and the American Sleibo Law Firm (Qianhai), organized a seminar on coping strategies for Chinese cross-border e-commerce in the United States. The seminar was strongly supported by the Beijing Anti-Infringement and Counterfeiting Alliance and the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association.

At the seminar, Director Gu Xiaoqing emphasized the key role that lawyers and entrepreneurs play in the process of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of China's cross-border e-commerce. Director Lan Caiming also pointed out that this incident is not only related to the interests of the country and the people, but also highlights the importance of cooperation to deal with the crisis in the context of different cultures and legal systems.

Director Lan called on the majority of merchants to work together to meet the challenges they face. Mr. Hong Yunfeng, chairperson of the Beijing Anti-Infringement and Counterfeiting Alliance, focused on intellectual property issues in the field of cross-border e-commerce, gave an in-depth explanation and interpretation, and studied relevant coping strategies with the participants. The Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association also took quick action to actively recruit several cross-border e-commerce sellers to collectively respond to the lawsuit, create a healthy business environment, and help enterprises develop.

III. Industry response and concerns

The case has a wide range of implications and has attracted much attention, particularly from the Asian Journal of Intellectual Property (AsiaIP). In the early days of the case, Beluga, a widely influential overseas media in China, conducted interviews with all the collective defendants in the case and paid great attention to the devastating consequences that similar cases of abuse could have on China's cross-border e-commerce.

The Asian Intellectual Property Journal not only reported on the case, but also interviewed relevant people, and organized the content of the case into a special topic, which was published on the cover, fully reflecting the influence of this case in the professional field.

This victory not only won the rights and interests of the sellers involved in the lawsuit, but also set a model for the entire cross-border e-commerce industry, showing that sellers can effectively safeguard their rights and interests by responding collectively to intellectual property disputes. At the same time, this case also revealed the crux of patent review, reminding sellers to conduct adequate market surveys and intellectual property inquiries before going overseas to ensure legal compliance of products and avoid potential legal risks from the source.

In the future, Zhiheng Qianhai will continue to pay attention to intellectual property issues in the field of cross-border e-commerce and actively assist sellers in dealing with various disputes and challenges. Here, we call on sellers to strengthen cooperation and exchanges between industries, gain a deeper understanding of the rules of each platform, and make a good layout of intellectual property rights in various countries in advance to jointly promote the healthy development of the cross-border e-commerce industry.

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Lawyer Profile

Lawyer Yan Yunyun

Senior Partner of Zhiheng (Qianhai) Law Firm

Zhiheng International Strategic Consultant

Executive Director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Beijing Anti-Infringement and Counterfeiting Alliance, Minister of International Department

Deputy Director, Cross-border E-commerce Legal Professional Committee of Provincial Lawyers Association

Yan has rich practical experience in overseas listing, cross-border e-commerce full-process compliance, US arbitration and cross-border e-commerce US intellectual property infringement litigation, is committed to overseas intellectual property layout and rights protection, and provides full-process legal services for overseas enterprises.

Areas of expertise include: overseas intellectual property, cross-border dispute resolution, overseas capital markets, greenfield investment, etc. In the field of foreign investment and mergers and acquisitions, Mr. Yan has provided various consulting and overseas listing counseling for a number of overseas listed companies, and the cross-border merger and acquisition cases represented have been selected as "2019 Outstanding Transactions" in the Commercial Law; in the field of foreign intellectual property rights, Mr. Yan has successfully handled a large number of infringement settlement cases and won the trust and praise of clients; in terms of special projects and perennial legal services for Chinese overseas enterprises, Mr. Yan has provided full-process legal services and a package of legal solutions for a large number of Chinese overseas enterprises in industries such as industrial and trade integration and cross-border e-commerce.

In addition, Mr. Yan has been invited many times to provide cross-border e-commerce related training for the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, the Legal Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the Futian Judicial Bureau, and the Guangdong Provincial Trademark Association. Maintain extensive friendly cooperative relations with many overseas law firms and local lawyers, jointly carry out international legal services, and provide resources and guarantees for domestic and foreign clients to provide efficient, timely and high-quality legal services.