According to the General Principles of the Civil Law of China and the Patent Law, the limitation of action for patent infringement is three years, counting from the date when the patentee or interested party knows or should know about the infringement. Some persistent patent infringements have not been investigated by the obligee within three years since the obligee knew or should have known that the patent was infringed. When the obligee brings an infringement lawsuit, the patent right of the obligee is still within the protection period stipulated by law, and the infringer is still carrying out the infringement. For this kind of continuous patent infringement, if more than three years pass from the date when the patentee knows or should know that the infringement occurred to the date when the patentee brings a lawsuit to the people's court, the court will generally order the defendant to stop the infringement, but the amount of compensation for infringement losses should be calculated forward for three years from the date when the patentee brings a lawsuit to the people's court, and the infringement losses exceeding three years will not be protected.
What are the types of patent infringement?
1, manufacturing patented products without permission;
2. Intentionally using the patented product of invention or utility model;
3. Selling or promising to sell patented products without permission;
4. Use patented methods and use, sell or promise to sell products directly obtained according to patented methods;
5. The act of importing patented products or products directly obtained by patented methods;
6. The act of counterfeiting others' patents;
7. The act of counterfeiting patents.
legal ground
Article 74 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that the limitation of action for patent infringement is three years, counting from the date when the patentee or interested party knows or should know about the infringement and infringer.
If the patentee fails to pay an appropriate royalty before the patent right is granted after the publication of the application for a patent for invention, the limitation period for requesting the royalty is three years, counting from the date when the patentee knows or should know that others are using his invention. However, if the patentee knows or should know before the patent right is granted, it shall be counted from the date when the patent right is granted.