Medical Devices Industry Billion Yuan Litigation Concluded

May 2, 2017

October 2016, with Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court (Guangdong High Court) making the final verdict on the two patent infringement cases and one trade secret infringement case between Shenzhen Mindray Biomedical Electronics Co., Ltd. (Mindray) and Shenzhen Edan Instruments Co., Ltd. (Edan), the intellectual property battle between the two parties finally came to an end. In the 12 cases in which the court ruled the final verdict, Mindray won all the victories, and the total amount of compensation reached over 28 million yuan.

 

Since April 2011, Mindray started a series of 23 patent infringement litigations and 1 trade secrete infringement litigation against Edan, claiming for a total of more than 100 million yuan as indemnity, with over 65 million yuan for patent infringement and 41 million yuan for trade secret infringement. Several models of monitors and ultrasonic imaging equipment produced by Edan are alleged of infringing upon Mindray’s patent right.

 

It is reported that Mindray global sales reached nearly 10 billion yuan in 2015, with products sold to more than 190 countries and regions. Their monitor products take up more domestic market share than General Electric, Philips and other international leading brands, and have ranked No. 1 for 11 consecutive years. As known, Mindray and Edan had been long time partners before they split and went against each other due to Edan’s business expansion and subsequent impact on Mindray’s existing market, which triggered the intellectual property battle between the two parties.

 

In October 2016, Guangdong High Court issued final rulings on the other 10 patent infringement cases and 1 trade secret case, in which Edan is ordered to stop production of infringing products involved, and to compensate for Mindray’s economic loss for a total of around 27 million yuan, including 15 million yuan for the 10 patent infringement cases and 12 million yuan for the single trade secret case.

 

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