Notice of ruling in favor of Mindray Medical International Co., Ltd. in its action against Edan Instruments, Inc. on the infringement of intellectual property rights

2016-11-04

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The creation, utilization, protection and management of intellectual property rights are vital indicators for the assessment of the overall capacity of an enterprise in research and development as well as the effective protection of the core competence of the enterprise. 

 

Mindray is committed to research, development and innovation ever since its establishment in 1991. Such commitment allows Mindray to become as a main competitor in the industry, and trusted by the European and American markets.

 

With strong commitment to innovation, Mindray takes proprietary intellectual property rights as its vital asset and will protect it from any attempts of infringement. In responding to the act of infringement of Edan Instruments, Inc. in Shenzhen (hereinafter referred to as “Edan Instruments”) against the proprietary intellectual property rights and business secrets of Mindray, the Company filed legal action with the People’s Intermediate Court of Shenzhen on charge of infringement of intellectual property rights and business secrets in 2 instances (for a total of 24 counts of charges) on April 6 2011 and April 14 2011, respectively. In the action, Mindray requested the court to order a halt to the sustained infringement of its intellectual property rights and business secrets and claimed for economic losses amounting to more than USD14.8 million. 

 

In October 2016, Mindray received the final ruling from the People’s High Court of Guangdong Province in the case of Mindray vs. Edan on the infringement of intellectual property rights. The summary of the verdict is exhibited hereunder: 

 

(2014) Yue-Gao-Fa-Min-San-Zhong-Zi No. 831 Civil Ruling: 1. Respondent Edan Instruments shall halt all infringement against the proprietary business secret, “ECG algorithm” of Complainant Mindray; 2. Respondent Edan Instruments shall compensate Complainant Mindray’s economic losses and reasonable amount of fees for legal services in its rights protection amounting to USD1,805,290 in total; 3. Respondent Edan Instruments shall bear all the expenses incurred from the legal action, including processing fees for the litigation, validation fees and auditing fees amounting to USD61,796 in total.

 

(2014)Yue-Gao-Fa-Min-San-Zhong-Zi No. 878-879, 935-938, and 1033 Civil Ruling: 1. Respondent Edan Instruments shall halt the manufacture , saleand promise of sale of the infringement items in violation of the patented “electronic non-invasive blood pressure measurement device” with patent number ZL03139708.5; 2. Respondent Edan Instruments shall compensate Complainant Mindray’s economic losses and reasonable amount of fees for legal services in its rights protection amounting to USD1,522,850 in total; 3. Respondent Edan Instruments shall bear all the expenses incurred from the legal action, including processing fees for the litigation, validation fees  and auditing fees amounting to USD41,408 in total.

 

(2014)Yue-Gao-Fa-Min-San-Zhong-Zi No. 1122-1124 Civil Ruling: 1. Respondent Edan Instruments shall halt the manufacture , sale and promise of sale of the infringement items in violation of the patented “portable ultrasound diagnosis device” with patent number ZL200710124611.7; 2. Respondent Edan Instruments shall compensate Complainant Mindray’s economic losses and reasonable amount of fees for legal services in its rights protection amounting to USD656,629 in total; 3. Respondent Edan Instruments shall bear all the expenses incurred from the processing fees for the litigation amounting to USD8,255.8 in total.

 

Furthermore, (2012) Yue-Gao-Fa-Min-San-Zhong-Zi No. 539 Civil Ruling has been issued in 2014 whereby Edan Instruments shall halt all infringement and compensate for the damage amounting to USD147,885.

 

Mindray has filed a series of legal actions against Edan Instruments on the infringement of its proprietary intellectual property rights including patents and business secrets since April 2011. All the cases have been tried by the People’s Intermediate Court of Shenzhen for the first instance and the People’s High Court of Guangdong Province for the second instance. Rulings have been made and caused into full force. The rulings of the courts of the first instance and the second instance at two levels found the Respondent guilty as charged of infringement against patents and business secrets. The products under infringement included “M8 patient monitor”, “M9 patient monitor”, M80 patient monitor”, “M50 patient monitor”, “M8A patient monitor”, “M8B patient monitor”, “M9A patient monitor”, “M9B patient monitor”, and “DUS 3 digital ultrasound system”, “DUS 6 digital ultrasound system”, “DUS 3 Vet digital ultrasound system”, and “DUS 6 Vet digital ultrasound system”. These covered almost all the product lines of Edan Instruments for monitoring devices and ultrasound products. The final decision of the court ruled that Edan Instruments has been found guilty of infringement against a series of intellectual property rights and shall be liable to damage amounting to USD 4.3 million (RMB27,770,000) in total. This is a historically high amount of compensation for damage in infringement of intellectual property rights in the field of medical devices in China.