The general consumers of design products usually include those who can observe or pay attention to the appearance of the product during the transaction and use of the product. If the product can only be used as a component of an assembled product due to its function and use, and the end user of the assembled product cannot observe the appearance design of the component during normal use, the general consumers mainly include the direct purchaser and installer of the component.
In an administrative dispute over the invalidation of a design patent between the Appellant CNIPA and the Appellee Dongguan A Company, with Shenzhen B Company, as a third party in the original trial, a design patent named "cable connector" owned by Dongguan A Company was involved (hereinafter referred to as this patent).
Shenzhen B Company filed an invalidation request against the aforementioned patent with the CNIPA. The CNIPA believed that connectors of this type are mainly used to connect flexible circuit boards for connection and conduction purposes. These functions are mainly achieved through the shape of the product, so general consumers of this type of product pay more attention to the shape of the product, especially the specific design of the connection with the circuit board and the arrangement of conductive terminals and grooves. Difference points 1, 3, and 4 between this patent and the reference design are minor local differences, while the central part of point 2 is a relatively common design in this art. The tooth-shaped concave and convex at the bottom are consistent with the reference design. The shallow relief grooves at the upper and lower parts generally do not capture much attention of consumers. The above differences do not significantly impact the overall visual effect of the product, and this patent does not comply with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the Patent Law. As a result, the CNIPA issued a decision to declare the patent invalid.
However, Dongguan A Company believed that this patent was evidently different from the reference design, and thus filed a lawsuit with court of the first instance.
The court of first instance held that "general consumers" of patented product should not be the end user of the finished product manufactured using the design product. The differences 1, 2, and 3 between the patent and the reference design are not local subtle differences and can draw attention of general consumers. This patent and the reference design are evidently different, which complies with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the Patent Law. The court therefore ruled to revoke the challenged decision, directing the CNIPA to make a new decision.
The CNIPA was dissatisfied and appealed to the Supreme People's Court. On August 9, 2022, the Supreme People's Court revoked the original judgment and dismiss the lawsuit filed by Dongguan A Company.
The Supreme People's Court, in the second instance, based on the confirmation of the similarities summarized in the challenged decision, summarized the opinions of all parties, and re-summarized the similarities and differences between this patent and the reference design, and held that: general consumers of design products usually include all consumers who can see the appearance of the product during product transactions and use. If a product can only be used as a component of an assembled product due to its function and use, and the end user of the assembled product can still see the appearance design of the component during the normal use of the assembled product, then general consumers include both the direct purchaser and installer of the component, as well as the end user of the assembled product. If the end user of the assembled product cannot see the appearance design of the component during normal use, then general consumers should mainly include the direct purchaser and installer of the component.
In this case, the patent is a cable connector mainly used to connect flexible circuit boards. It is installed on PCB boards as electronic product components. After the electronic product is manufactured, the end user cannot see the appearance design of the patent, so the general consumers of the patented product are mainly those who directly purchase and install the cable connector.
(2021) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Xing Zhong No. 464
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