Recently, the "Empowering Greater Bay Area Development and Safeguarding High-Quality Growth" International Symposium on Intellectual Property Judicial Protection took place in Guangzhou. During the symposium, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court signed cooperative agreements with institutions such as City University of Hong Kong, Macau University of Science and Technology, and the Hong Kong International Mediation Center. They also unveiled the "100 Notable Cases in the Decade" (2014-2024), a compilation of their finest casework over the past decade (see linked attachment for the report).
Among the highlighted cases, two internet intellectual property and data rights cases represented by were included in this prestigious report, specifically Case 55 [(2022) Yue 73 Min Civil Final 3597] and Case 56 [(2022) Yue 73 Civil Final 2619].
Both cases involve cutting-edge legal issues in emerging internet industries, such as online virtual property rights and the responsibilities of online platforms. Upon receiving the mandate, Llinks team deeply analysed the facts of the cases, unearthed and organised key evidence, and after two rounds of trials, ultimately won the lawsuit for the clients. Not only were high compensations achieved (Case 55, awarded 3 million), but there was also a breakthrough in the way to stop the infringement liability, with the court ordering for the first time that the online platform service provider must close the infringing online store to achieve the effect of stopping the infringement (Case 56), thus effectively protecting the legal rights and interests of the clients. The two cases also provided important judicial examples for the determination of legal rules in related online industries, which is conducive to promoting the healthy and orderly development of the digital economy.
