u-blox, a publically listed global provider of positioning and wireless communication technologies and services, has been handed a favourable decision in its copyright infringement suit against Chinese rival Techtotop Microelectronic Technology Co. Ltd (TT). u-blox was represented by Lusheng.

This decision demonstrates that courts in China are more willing to reverse the burden of proof, and draw a negative inference against a defendant.  In the case the evidence pointed strongly to infringement, but the defendant refused to provide any evidence to the contrary. The reversal of the burden of proof,  particularly important for software disputes, where comparison of source code can be very burdensome or even impossible to conduct due to the inability to access the other party’s source code.

Sharon Qiao, Senior Partner, Head of Litigation Group at Lusheng Law Firm, commented:

"The Hangzhou court handled the highly technical issues very competently. The large damages award reflects a trend in Chinese courts towards higher damages in cases like this, where the commercial impact on the IP owner is significant.”