On 22^nd February 2022, Hong Kong-based legal magazine China Business Law Journal (CBLJ) releases the winners of its "Deals of the Year Award 2021".

Wanhuida Intellectual Property’s deal “Epoint’s GUI design patent infringement” is selected to be included in the section of "DISPUTES AND INVESTIGATIONS" by the magazine. The firm has been a winner of the magazine's "Deals of the Year" awards since 2012.

In the wining deal (Deal #7), Wanhuida represented the appellant, Epoint Systems, in successfully revoking an unfavourable administrative decision made by a local AMR authority by leveraging the findings of the distinguishing design features in the CNIPA decision to contradict the Patentee’s arguments in the infringement proceeding as it breaches the estoppel principle. The approach finally led to the non-infringement finding of the court of appeal. This is probably the SPC’s first administrative decision concerning infringement assessment of GUI design patent.

The winning deals have, as in previous years, been chosen by the magazine's editorial team based on a number of factors including the overall significance, complexity and innovative nature of the deals, as well as the deal size and broader interests.

China Business Law Journal's independent editorial team made its own choices on the deals they felt were the shining stars for the year. The winning deals and cases have been placed in four sections: “Capital market deals”; “Domestic deals”; “Cross-border deals”; and “Disputes and investigations”. For more information of the Wanhuida winning deal, please refer to: https://law.asia/deals-china-2021/#Dispute07.