WTO Issues Ruling In EU-China Dispute

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) GENEVA, July 21 (KUNA) -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) Monday issued a ruling partially upholding the European Union's challenge against China regarding the issuance of so-called anti-suit injunctions (ASIs) by Chinese courts in disputes involving standard essential patents (SEPs), finding that the original Panel erred in interpreting certain core obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
According to the WTO statement the dispute filed by the European Union concerned Chinese court decisions related to SEPs in the mobile telecommunications sector where the EU alleged that China acted inconsistently with its obligations under the TRIPS Agreement and its Accession Protocol to the WTO.
The patents in question relate to 3G 4G and 5G mobile technologies.
The arbitrators concluded that the EU had substantiated its claim regarding the existence of an unwritten policy by China concerning anti-suit injunctions in SEP-related litigation.
However, they found that the EU had not demonstrated that such a policy was inconsistent with TRIPS provisions.
Nevertheless, upon further review and based on the EU's request to complete the analysis the arbitrators determined that the Panel erred in its legal reasoning under several TRIPS provisions.
Additionally the arbitrators found that China acted inconsistently with the publication obligations under of the TRIPS Agreement by failing to publish the judgment in the Xiaomi v. InterDigital case.
China was also found to have violated the agreement for not providing information requested by the European Union regarding relevant court decisions.
The arbitrators granted China a 90-day period to bring its measures into conformity with WTO rules. (end)
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