IQOS Sues E-Cigarette Firm for Copying Its Product Design
On the morning of April 25, the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court publicly heard an intellectual property case.<\/span><\/p>
The plaintiff is Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company. The patent in question pertains to the design of an electronic cigarette (estimated to be a heated tobacco product), with a subject matter value of up to 3.15 million RMB.<\/span>
For this intellectual property case, Shenzhen has adopted a jury system with Hong Kong members for the first time. To facilitate the court and parties in comparing infringement, 3D scanning technology was also used to preserve evidence, allowing for a clearer, multi-angle, and comprehensive display of the alleged infringing product, ensuring the accuracy and efficiency of the comparison results.<\/span><\/p>
It is reported that the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development Plan" clearly proposes to build an international innovation center, with the core of strengthening intellectual property protection. The Greater Bay Area involves three legal systems, and how to integrate different legal systems in intellectual property protection and learn from Hong Kong's experience to enhance Shenzhen's intellectual property protection level is an urgent issue to be addressed.<\/span><\/p>
Notably, during the hearing yesterday, Hong Kong juror Ma Chuli participated in the case, marking the first time Shenzhen has used a Hong Kong jury system to hear an intellectual property case. Ma Chuli has a background in design printing, and his involvement will provide more professional opinions to the panel regarding whether the design infringes, while also bringing Hong Kong perspectives and knowledge to the case.<\/span><\/p>
According to publicly available reports, there has been no announcement regarding the name of the defendant electronic cigarette company or the name of the electronic cigarette product involved in the design infringement.<\/span><\/p>
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