1. Can I sue for copyright and patent infringement after the expiration of the two-year limitation period?
Infringement of copyright and patent rights can also be prosecuted after the two-year statute of limitations expires. What is lost after the limitation of action is generally the right to win the case, not the right to bring a lawsuit to the court.
According to Article 23 of Several Provisions on Applicable Legal Issues in the Trial of Patent Dispute Cases: "The limitation period for patent infringement is two years, counting from the date when the patentee or interested party knows or should know about the infringement. If the obligee files a lawsuit for more than two years, and the infringement continues when the lawsuit is filed, the people's court shall order the defendant to stop the infringement within the validity period of the patent right, and the amount of infringement damages shall be calculated forward for two years from the date when the obligee files a lawsuit with the people's court. "
According to Article 28 of the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Copyright Civil Disputes, "the limitation period of action for copyright infringement is two years, counting from the date when the copyright owner knows or should know about the infringement. If the obligee has filed a lawsuit for more than two years and the infringement continues at the time of prosecution, the people's court shall order the defendant to stop the infringement within the copyright protection period; The amount of compensation for infringement damages is calculated forward for two years from the date when the obligee brings a lawsuit to the people's court. "
Second, the specific manifestations of copyright infringement
Article 48 of the Copyright Law stipulates that anyone who commits one of the following acts of infringement shall bear civil liabilities such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the influence, making an apology and compensating for losses according to the circumstances; At the same time, if the public interest is harmed, the copyright administrative department may order it to stop the infringement, confiscate the illegal income, confiscate and destroy the infringing copy, and may also impose a fine; If the circumstances are serious, the copyright administrative department may also confiscate the materials, tools and equipment mainly used for making infringing copies; If the case constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law:
(1) Reproduction, distribution, performance, projection, broadcasting, compilation and dissemination to the public through information networks without the permission of the copyright owner, except as otherwise provided by this Law;
(2) Publishing books with exclusive publishing rights enjoyed by others;
(3) Reproduction and distribution of audio and video products of their performances without the permission of performers, or dissemination of their performances to the public through information networks, unless otherwise provided for in this Law;
(4) Reproduction, distribution and dissemination of audio and video products made by the producers of audio and video recordings to the public through information networks without the permission of the producers, except as otherwise provided for in this Law;
(5) broadcasting or reproducing radio and television without permission, except as otherwise provided by this Law;
(six) without the permission of the copyright owner or copyright-related obligee, deliberately avoiding or destroying the technical measures taken by the obligee to protect the copyright or copyright-related rights of his works, audio-visual products, etc. Except as otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations;
(7) Deliberately deleting or changing electronic information on rights management such as works, audio-visual products, etc. Without the permission of the copyright owner or copyright-related obligee, except as otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations;
(eight) the production and sale of works signed by others.
3. What are the responsibilities for patent infringement?
According to the relevant laws, the legal responsibilities of patent infringers include civil liability, administrative liability and criminal liability.
administrative responsibility
For patent infringement, the administrative department for patent affairs has the right to order the infringer to stop the infringement, order it to correct, and impose a fine. The administrative department for patent affairs may also mediate the amount of compensation for patent infringement at the request of the parties concerned.
(2) Civil liability
1 Stop the infringement means that the patent infringer should immediately stop the ongoing patent infringement according to the decision of the department in charge of patent work or the judgment of the people's court.
2. compensate for the losses. The amount of compensation for infringement of patent rights shall be determined according to the losses suffered by the patentee or the interests gained by the infringer; If it is difficult to determine the losses suffered by the infringer or the benefits obtained by the infringer, it can be reasonably determined by referring to the multiple of the patent license fee.
3. Eliminate the impact. When the infringing act of the infringer damages the goodwill of the patented product in the market, the infringer should bear the legal responsibility of eliminating the influence in an appropriate way and admit his own infringing act to eliminate the adverse influence on the patented product.
(3) Criminal responsibility
In accordance with the provisions of the Patent Law and the Criminal Law, if the circumstances are serious, the person directly responsible shall be investigated for criminal responsibility.
The statute of limitations for general civil disputes is three years, but for intellectual property disputes such as copyright and patent disputes, the special law clearly stipulates that the statute of limitations is two years. Generally speaking, when the copyright owner finds that his rights and interests have been infringed by others, he will sue the infringer in the local court with jurisdiction within the statutory limitation of action.