First pre-trial injunction granted for a drug patent in China:
Astellas Pharma v Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical.
On 27 December 2019, the Beijing IP Court (the Court) granted
the first pre-trial injunction in China, specifically for a drug
patent. Although it is encouraging that the first pre-trial
injunction has been granted in China, this may not be too exciting.
This pre-trial injunction only provided six months protection to
the patented product, notwithstanding that the patentee in this
case had suffered from infringing sales for at least 14 months
before the pre-trial injunction was granted, and it took the
patentee nine months to have the pre-trial injunction request
accepted by the Court for hearing. Having said this, the grant of
pre-trial injunctions is not a common practice around the world.
Toby Mak outlines the underlying law, which is an
interesting reminder of the similar objectives to Western
jurisdictions. The catch, he says, is in the evidence; the
