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Zhonglun Successful Represented Tencent in A Patent Invalidation Case Involving Wechat
Zhonglun Successful Represented Tencent in A Patent Invalidation Case Involving Wechat
Beijing Zhonglun Law Firm recently successfully represented Tencent in a patent invalidation case involving Wechat, revoking the Patent Re-examination Board’s decision of patent validity. This case was represented by GU Ping, ZHANG Hongbin, and ZHANG Siyue.
Because this case involves Wechat, the most popular instant messenger in China, it has attracted a lot of attention. Tencent marketed Wechat, which integrates several functions, such as transfer of text and photos, circle of friends, people nearby, inquiry of public account, and etc. In 2013, the patentee, HOU, Wan Chun sued Tencent before Jinan Intermediate People’s Court of Shandong Province on the grounds that several functions of Wechat, i.e., people nearby and inquiry of public account infringed his Chinese patent No. 200910084756.8 titled “system or method offering on-line yellow pages associated with location information". At the same year, Tencent filed for patent invalidation with Patent Re-examination Board against the 200910084756.8 patent, which were all rejected. Tencent appealed the 21763 decision to Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. After extensive briefing and arguments, on September 1, 2014, the Court revoked the Patent Re-examination Board’s decision, and held that the patent is invalid.
According to Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, only 11.94% of the Patent Re-examination Board’s decisions are revoked by Beijing No.1Intermediate Court during the administrative appeal. Zhonglun IP team provide Tencent with exceptional legal and technical service and help our client win this high-profile case.
