SPC Exemplary Case Of 2021: Appotronics Corp. Ltd. v. CNIPA

The SPC on July 28, 2021 brought an end to the lingering litigation between Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer Casio Computer Co., Ltd. and Chinese rival Appotronics Corp. Ltd..

The case on February 28 was identified by the top court as one of the 48 representative cases of the 3,460 ones in which it issued rulings in 2021. As a guiding principle distilled by the court, the case shows that the term "special technical features" is defined as meaning those technical features that define a contribution which each of the inventions considered as a whole, makes over the prior art.

In 2016, Appotronics filed a petition with the CNIPA to invalidate Casio's patent ZL201010293730.7 related to a light source device, a projection apparatus, and a projection method. Casio filed an application for the patent with the CNIPA in 2010, which was granted by the agency in 2013. The Reexamination and Invalidation Board of the CNIPA dismissed Appotronics's challenge to