Subject:Intellectual property

　　Keywords:Cars; China; Design right; Infringement; Patents

　　Introduction: The Chinese case Fiat v. Great Wall1 is representative for design patent infringements, and covers the following main criteria for determining similarity of designs: (a) How to define the scope of protection of a design patent in the practice of courts? How to define the “particular designed parts of the design patent” in this case? Why the court employed the contrast method, *90 which compares the accused physical goods with the drawings or photographs of a patented design, based on the principle of time space interval? (b) What characteristics should an individual possess in order to determine the similarity of auto-related designs? Which group of persons should be referred to in practice with respect to judging the similarity of automotive designs? (c) Which judgment approach should be applied by courts in determining the similarity for auto designs? What should a judgment be based on, the overall shape or a certain individual part of an automobile?

　　说明：此文发表在《International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law》(IIC)，2010, 41(1), 89-98。