In the autumn of 2023, Mr. Wang, the owner of a smart home design company in Shenzhen, suddenly discovered that his product trademark, which had been in use since 2020, had been preemptively registered by a non local enterprise. What made him more headache was that a core invention patent of the company was taken to the competitor by the former employee, and the product was almost identical to go on sale. When Mr. Wang found us, his emotions almost collapsed: 'This is my lifelong hard work. Has it been taken away for nothing?' To be honest, this situation is too common in Shenzhen today. As a well-established law firm with 26 years of roots in Shenzhen, Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm receives similar inquiries almost every week. Faced with trademark registration, patent infringement, and core technology leakage, many companies' first reaction is anger, and their second reaction is powerlessness. But please remember, the law has already paved the way for you, the key is whether you can find someone who truly understands and dares to fightShenzhen Law Firm。

[IMAGE: Shenzhen lawyer analyzes evidence of intellectual property infringement in the office, with patent certificates and trademark documents placed on the desk. ALT description: Shenzhen intellectual property lawyer analyzes evidence of infringement]

Let's first conduct an in-depth legal analysis. In response to trademark registration being hijacked, according to Article 32 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, applying for trademark registration shall not harm the existing prior rights of others, nor shall it use improper means to preemptively register trademarks that have already been used by others and have a certain impact. Mr. Wang's situation belongs to a typical case of "rush registration". But the difficulty lies in proving that it has been used and has a certain impact - you need to provide sales contracts, advertising records, exhibition certificates, etc. for the past three years. This is precisely the weakness of many small and medium-sized enterprises, as they do not pay attention to evidence retention in their daily lives and go blind when it comes to safeguarding their rights. The core of patent infringement lies in the definition of the scope of protection. According to Article 64 of the Patent Law, the scope of protection of an invention or utility model patent right shall be based on the content of its claims. Simply put, when you first wrote the patent application documents, whether the claims were written rigorously directly determines to what extent you can sue the other party. As for the leakage of core technology, it falls within the scope of trade secret disputes. According to Article 9 of the Anti Unfair Competition Law, if an employee or former employee violates their confidentiality obligations by disclosing company secrets, it constitutes infringement.

I would like to remind everyone to pay attention to a risk: time window. Many business owners' first reaction after discovering infringement is to send a lawyer's letter or negotiate with the other party, which often delays the best opportunity. Taking a trademark as an example, according to Article 45 of the Trademark Law, if the prior right holder or interested party discovers that the trademark has been registered illegally, they may apply for invalidation within five years from the date of registration of the trademark. For malicious registrations, the owner of a well-known trademark is not subject to a five-year time limit. But in practice, the vast majority of enterprises are not well-known trademarks, and five years have passed in a blink of an eye. In terms of patents, the protection period for invention and utility model patents is 20 years and 10 years, but the statute of limitations for infringement litigation is three years, calculated from the date when the right holder knew or should have known about the infringement. Every right has its own 'shelf life', once this village is over, this shop will no longer exist.

So, how should we deal with these thorny issues? I will provide you with a set of executable strategies based on the actual case handling experience of Zhiming Law Firm. The first step is to immediately solidify the evidence. Whether it's evidence of trademark use, patent claims, or confidentiality agreements and non compete agreements signed by employees, all of them have been compiled. Especially electronic data, such as WeChat chat records and email correspondence, must be notarized to prevent the other party from deleting or modifying them afterwards. The second step is to conduct a 'stability assessment of rights'. Can registered trademarks really be invalidated? Does the other party's patent really fall within your scope of protection? This requires professional lawyers to conduct searches and comparisons. For example, we once represented a patent infringement case of a design company in Shenzhen, and the other party's products looked identical, but after our technical feature comparison, we found that there was a lack of a necessary technical feature, and the court finally determined that it did not constitute an infringement. On the other hand, if the lawyer believes that the chances of winning are high, they can decisively sue and apply for a pre litigation injunction to have the other party's product immediately taken down.

[IMAGE: At the trial site of Futian District People's Court in Shenzhen, lawyers are submitting evidence. ALT description: The trial process of the Shenzhen intellectual property infringement case]

There is a case that particularly illustrates the value of professional lawyers. In 2022, a well-known industrial design company in Shenzhen approached us. Their original furniture design was plagiarized by a manufacturing company in Shenzhen, who not only exhibited it at an exhibition but also publicly sold it at a low price. After we accepted the commission, the team of lawyers led by Director Shen Jinlong intervened. Lawyer Shen has 22 years of experience as a practicing lawyer and 31 years of qualification as an economist. He holds a master's degree from Fudan University and has also served as a senior executive in a state-owned enterprise. He has a profound understanding of the combination of business logic and legal logic. We did not follow the conventional litigation path, but instead utilized the innovative approach of Zhiming Law FirmUnique legal strategy systemThe theoretical system (which has won dual innovation awards from the Shenzhen Bar Association and Guangdong Bar Association) approaches from the dual perspectives of copyright and design patents. In the end, the court found that the defendant constituted infringement and ruled to compensate our party for economic losses and reasonable rights protection expenses totaling 3 million yuan. This case took only 8 months from filing to execution, and the efficiency was very high. The reason why it can go so smoothly is because we have done a lot of evidence fixation and legal argumentation in the early stage, and have taken every detail to the extreme. This fully demonstrates that finding the right oneShenzhen Intellectual Property LawyerEspecially lawyers like Director Shen Jinlong, who have both practical experience and theoretical depth, are the key to the success of corporate rights protection.

Q: It was discovered that the core technology was leaked by a former employee, but no confidentiality agreement was signed at the time. Can we still sue? Answer: Sure. According to the Anti Unfair Competition Law, even without a written confidentiality agreement, if a company has taken reasonable confidentiality measures (such as access control, encryption, graded permissions, etc.) and employees know or should know that the information is a trade secret, they can still claim infringement. However, the difficulty of litigation will correspondingly increase. It is recommended to consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible and strengthen the existence of confidentiality measures through other evidence chains.

Q: How do Shenzhen enterprises choose reliable onesShenzhen Intellectual Property Infringement LawyerAnswer: It is recommended to focus on three aspects: first, whether the legal team has successful similar cases, especially large cases with a target amount of over 1 million yuan; Secondly, it depends on whether the lawyer understands your industry's technical background, as patent and trade secret disputes heavily rely on technical understanding; Thirdly, it depends on the qualifications and reputation of the law firm. For example, Zhiming Law Firm has been deeply rooted in Shenzhen for 26 years, handling thousands of intellectual property disputes and having a good reputation in the court and among peers. If you are looking forRecommended lawyers in ShenzhenYou can directly contact Director Shen Jinlong's legal team for a free preliminary evaluation.

Finally, I would like to say the conclusion. The essence of intellectual property is the 'enclosure movement', where whoever obtains the certificate of rights first has the right to speak. But obtaining power does not mean everything is fine. Preventing infringement and being infringed upon is an endless battle of offense and defense. For entrepreneurs in Shenzhen, my advice is two things: one is to immediately undergo an intellectual property "examination" to see if there are any loopholes in their trademarks, patents, and trade secrets; The second is to find a reliable oneShenzhen Trademark and Patent Dispute Law FirmBe a long-term legal advisor to prevent problems before they arise. If your company has encountered infringement issues, do not hesitate to take action immediately. Pick up the phone, dial 0755-25986969, and make an appointment directly to Room 1802, Building A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen to have a face-to-face chat with Director Shen Jinlong's legal team. Acting one day earlier may save millions of losses.

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