The Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) heard an appeal over an invalidated patent between a German chemical company, the appellant, the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA), the respondent and a Chinese animal husbandry company, the third party, on April 23.

The case was heard on the online case-hearing platform China Mobile Micro Court.

The involved patent was for a feed additive (glycocyamine) which was invented by the German company. Other of its products in the same family were already patented in Germany, the US, Australia and Japan. But NIPA made a decision to invalidate the patent in China for a lack of the creativity required by China's patent law.

Before reaching the IP Court, the German company first filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court in February 2017, requesting the revocation of the decision. Holding that the facts were clear and the law was applied correctly, the court upheld the NIPA’s decision.

During the court session of the second instance, the collegial bench of the IP Court focused the investigation and debate on the patent’s creativity, allowing the parties to fully express their opinions on the issue. The whole proceeding was intense but well-regulated, and the decision was adjourned.