4.2.1 Causes of action
The cause of action in a civil case is determined by the nature of the civil legal relationship in dispute between parties of the case. It constitutes an important element in the name of each civil case and an important means for people’s courts to manage civil cases. According to the Provisions on the Causes of Action in Civil Cases57 and Article 1 of the Provisions on the Trial of Patent Disputes, the causes of action in patent-related civil cases include:
- disputes over the ownership of patent application rights;
- disputes over patent ownership;
- disputes over patent contracts;
- patent infringement disputes;
- disputes over patent counterfeiting;
- disputes over royalties of invention patents during the temporary protection period;
- disputes over rewards and remuneration for inventors or designers of service invention-creations;
- disputes over an application for pre-litigation act preservation;
- disputes over an application for pre-litigation property preservation;
- disputes over liabilities for damages due to an application for act preservation;
- disputes over liabilities for damages due to an application for property preservation;
- disputes over the right of authorship of inventors or designers of invention-creations;
- disputes over a declaration of patent non-infringement;
- disputes over the refund of royalties after a declaration of patent invalidation;
- disputes over liabilities for damages due to malicious patent litigation;
- disputes over royalties of standard-essential patents;
- disputes over whether a technical solution falls within the protection scope of a pharmaceutical product patent; and
- other patent disputes.