CHINA SPC: SEP NON-DISCLOSURE IN GB STANDARDS MAY BAR ENFORCEMENT
On 31 December 2025, the IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC) rendered a final judgment in Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong, an invention patent infringement dispute between Anhui Xinyi Yanan Cable Co., Ltd. (plaintiff and appellant) and Hebei Hualun Cable Co., Ltd. (defendant and appellant).
The case is significant for companies implementing Chinese national recommended standards (GB/T standards). The SPC treated the dispute as a typical ‘patent ambush’ scenario: the patent owner participated in drafting a national standard but did not disclose the relevant patent information during the standard-setting process. The SPC held that, in such circumstances, subsequent enforcement against standard implementers may be denied on the grounds of good faith and abuse of rights.
Background and procedural timeline
The patent at issue was CN200910116635.7, titled “High elongation aluminum alloy material for cables and its preparation method”. The asserted claims were mainly claims one and four, which define an aluminium alloy composition with specified ranges for Fe, Si and rare earth elements Ce and La.
At first instance, the trial court dismissed the plaintiff’s infringement claim primarily because the evidence submitted did not fully establish all the elements of the claims. The court focused in particular on whether the test data proved the presence of “aluminum” as required by claim one.
On appeal, the SPC retrieved sealed samples held by the local market supervision authority. The defendant confirmed that the accused technical solution fell within the scope of claims one and four, and the plaintiff withdrew its request for further testing.
Jul-Sep 2026 issue
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