广东一家企业产品远销欧美市场,2017年9月在柏林参加了行业内的一场重要展会时被荷兰竞争对手向展会方知识产权调解员投诉侵犯知识产权。针对这一突发事件,我所积极帮助客户立刻和知识产权调解员进行澄清沟通,使事态得到了有效缓解。
我所经过现有技术的检索,发现对方作为侵权指控基础的德国实用新型(案号:DE 20 2016 100 591)并不满足新颖性和创造性。随后,受客户委托,我方向德国专利商标局就竞争对手的实用新型提起了删除程序(28页删除理由说明,引用8件现有技术文献),并最终成功删除了对方的实用新型。
2017年12月,展会举办方向客户就其在柏林展会的被指控侵权行为下发了警告信函,要求客户今后参展注意知识产权保护并警告今后再有类似行为时将会有包括禁止参加展览在内的制裁措施。我所受客户委托,向展会举办方澄清了竞争对手在柏林展会的指控站不住脚的详细原因,指出展会方当时聘用的知识产权调解员对德国实用新型制度理解有误,并向举办方澄清了客户采取的一系列知识产权保护的有力措施。
最终,展会举办方副总裁于2018年1月回复如下邮件(隐去了展会名称、客户名称和信函作者姓名),消除了对我方客户侵权行为的怀疑,并欢迎我方客户下次继续参展:
“Dear Yiming Sun:
Thank you for your messages and for your thorough analysis of the complaint that we received at ... against your client... We have added your letter to our files, and certainly remember the complaint lodged against your client at ... We were glad that they were able to provide us with the information from your firm. It was helpful to alleviate the issue on the Show floor.
Please know that the letter we sent to your client was part of our standard protocol in the IP Program. We send this correspondence to companies that received an IP complaint as a form of notification, and to urge the company to continue to work to avoid issues at future shows. While we understand that it is difficult to avoid all complaints, we do urge our members to avoid copying other designs and to work with attorneys to ensure they are not overlapping with other party’s rights. We are glad that ... is already engaged with you on this process, and it seems that they are on the right track.
We appreciate your thoughts and will look forward to seeing ... at the next Show.
Best Regards,
...
Senior Vice President of Exhibitions, Conferences, and Sales ”
此后,我方继续帮助该客户调查鉴定了荷兰竞争对手在德国、英国、法国、荷兰、美国的专利布局及客户产品发生反不正当竞争的风险,并向相关地方法院提交了保护函,成功防范了竞争对手通过临时禁令阻碍客户产品在欧洲的提供和销售。
在客户后来再次来欧洲参加荷兰某一展会前夕,我所和荷兰合作律师配合,再次向荷兰地方法院提交了保护函,以防范法院基于竞争对手专利侵权的指控而签发临时禁令,最终有效降低了客户产品在欧洲提供和销售的知识产权侵权风险,并保障了客户欧洲展会活动的顺利进行。